Volleyball takes five set thriller in home opener
North Adams, MA- It took five sets and a couple of match points, but the MCLA Volleyball team held off a gritty Mount Holyoke squad this evening at the Amsler Campus Center 19-25, 25-21, 25-19, 18-25, 17-15. With the win MCLA improves to 3-1 while Mount Holyoke falls to 1-2.
Tied at 15 all, the Lyons used a 10-4 run to close out the first set and jump out to a 1-0 lead. The Trailblazers would bounce back however to take the next two sets never trailing in the 3rd and finishing on a strong 8-2 run to take the 4th and go ahead 2 sets to 1.
After a pair of Mount Holyoke errors midway through the 4th set, MCLA would take a 14-8 lead and was seemingly in control of the set and match. But the Lyons refused to quit catching the Trailblazers at 16-all on a kill by senior middle hitter McKenna Crosby (Jonesborough, TN). Classmate Marion Abeja (Kumi, Uganda) would follow that with three straight aces helping Mount Holyoke to ultimately pull away for the 25-18 fourth set decision, evening the match at two sets apiece.
MCLA first year outside hitter Elizabeth Brown (Lee, MA) would open the scoring in with a kill and a Mount Holyoke error would give the Trailblazers an early 2-0 lead. An Abeja kill and an MCLA error would draw the Lyons back to even. When Mount Holyoke edged ahead 7-5, first year middle hitter Anais Badio (Las Vegas, NV) came up huge with a kill and service ace on consecutive points to pull the Trailblazers even.
MCLA would make another push jumping out to a 12-10 lead after a kill by sophomore middle hitter Julia Graham (Chittenago, NY) and an Elizabeth Brown service ace. But again, the Lyons would tie the set at 12. From there the two teams would trade the next six points until when, tied at 15-15, another Elizabeth Brown kill, and a Mount Holyoke attack error would give the set to the Trailblazers 17-15 and the match 3 sets to 2.
Mount Holyoke was led by first year Madeline Barton (Brookfield, WI) with 20 kills on 50 attacks. Sophomore Lucie Berclaz (Hull, MA) would lead the Lyons with 25 digs.
Reigning MASCAC Player of the Week sophomore Chloie Garber (Eagle River, AK) and Elizabeth Brown led MCLA with 11 kills each. Four Trailblazers were in double-figures in digs led by sophomore Elie Walter-Goodspeed (Auburn, WA) with 17. First year Shannon O'Brien (Unionville, CT) would lead both teams with 31 assists.
Mount Holyoke travels to Waterville, Maine this weekend where they will participate in the Colby College Classic. MCLA will be on the road as well heading north to Norwich University for a Saturday tri-match. The Trailblazers will take on the host Cadets at 11AM followed by a 1PM match against Wentworth.