Volleyball splits at Norwich tri-match
Northfield, VT- The MCLA Volleyball team took to the road this afternoon for a tri-match with host Norwich University and the Wentworth Institute of Technology. The Trailblazers took the opener 3-1 over Norwich but were swept by Wentworth 3-0 in the neutral game.
MCLA 3 Norwich 1
MCLA got off to a quick start never trailing in the 1st set, taking it 25-20. The Trailblazers were the beneficiaries of 5 first set service aces from five different players and would also take advantage of 7 Cadet attack errors as well as 5 service errors enroute to the early 1-0 set lead.
The second set was nip and tuck throughout with neither team able to pull away. Eventually it was the efficient and consistent play of the Trailblazers who had a second set hitting percentage of .364, that would lead them to a 25-23 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set was again tightly contested until at 20-all, Norwich would go on a 5-1 run to close out the set, 25-21.
MCLA would regain their footing in the fourth putting together an 11-5 run to establish a 21-14 lead. However, Norwich would come storming back with a 9-3 run of their own to tie things up at 23-23 on a Laura Farnum (North Andover, MA) ace. It would take a pair of match points, but the Trailblazers would finally take the set 26-24 and the match 3-1.
Norwich senior Ana Lopez (Laredo, TX) would lead all players with 18 kills. Senior Sarah Farnum (North Andover, MA) had 19 assists while Laura Farnum had 9 digs.
For MCLA, sophomore Chloie Garber (Eagle River, AK) led the way with 13 kills and 4 assists. First year Shannon O'Brien (Unionville, CT) had 21 assists while classmate Elizabeth Brown (Lee, MA) led the Trailblazers with 7 digs and 3 service aces.
MCLA would finish with a .321 hitting percentage for the match.
Wentworth 3 MCLA 0
Wentworth sophomore Helen Barthe (Blythewood, SC) had 9 kills, 4 assists and 4 digs to lead the Lyons to a convincing sweep over MCLA in the Trailblazers second match of the day 25-16, 25-17, 25-15. With the win Wentworth moves to 2-2 on the season. MCLA drops to 4-2.
It was Wentworth that got out to the fast start in this one and unfortunately for the Trailblazers, they never looked back. The Lyons jumped out to a 9-2 advantage in the 1st set and cruised to a 25-16 win.
MCLA would stay even in the 2nd as late as 11-all. But from there it was all Wentworth as the Lyons would take another comfortable win 25-17 to go up 2 sets to none.
The third set was more of the same as Wentworth took an early 6-0 lead, maintain that lead for much of the set, and eventually close the Trailblazers out on a 10-2 run taking the 3rd 25-15 and the match 3-0.
Chloie Garber would again lead the Trailblazers with 7 kills. Sophomore Ellie Walter-Goodspeed (Auburn, WA) would finish with 7 digs and 5 assists.
MCLA will kick off their MASCAC campaign on Tuesday as they travel to Framingham State for a 7pm match against the defending conference champions.