SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College volleyball team rolled to its second and third straight victories and evened its record Saturday as the Lyons defeated Worcester State 3-0 in both matches of a non-conference doubleheader played Saturday in Mildred S. Howard Gymnasium.
First-year setter Sadie Duffrin (Minneapolis, Minn.) paced the Lyons (11-11) 30 assists in the first match and 27 in the second match, while senior Mar Simon (Miami, Fla.) tallied a combined 18 kills on the day.
Camryn Burgio led Worcester State (6-20) with seven kills in the first match, and Cassidy D'Esposito led the Lancers in the second match with eight kills.
First Match Recap: Mount Holyoke 3, Worcester State 0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-23) (BOX)
Simon had a match-high 10 kills and fellow senior McKenna Crosby (Jonesborough, Tenn.) added eight kills and three blocks in the day's opening match, as Mount Holyoke hit at a .171 percentage and limited Worcester State to .009.
The Lyons started out the match hot, collecting 12 kills with four attack errors on 32 swings in the first set. They built a 9-4 lead early, expanded it to 22-15, and after a 3-1 mini-run by the Lancers they closed out the set with a kill by senior Marion Abeja (Kumi, Uganda) and a dual block by first-years Madeline Barton (Brookfield, Wis.) and Elle Rimando (Mililani, Hawaii).
Mount Holyoke grabbed an early 7-1 lead in the second set, starting out with two straight kills by Crosby and taking advantage of four straight attack errors by the Lancers. A 5-0 Mount Holyoke run made it 18-8, and Worcester State came no closer than 18-11 the rest of the way.
A tighter third set saw Worcester State use a 6-1 run midway through to close the deficit from 18-11 to 19-17. Mount Holyoke made it 24-19 with a 3-1 run, including kills by Simon and Crosby, but the Lancers reeled off four straight points to make it a one-point set at 24-23. Duffrin set up Simon for a kill and the match point for a Mount Holyoke victory.
Sophomore libero Lucie Berclaz (Hull, Mass.) and Abeja led Mount Holyoke in digs with 15 and 13, respectively. Abeja also posted four kills and three blocks in the match.
Second Match Recap: Mount Holyoke 3, Worcester State 0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-20) (BOX)
Abeja led Mount Holyoke in the second match of the day with nine kills and just one error on 25 swings (.320), to go with two blocks. Simon added eight kills and Barton posted five kills and a team-high 13 digs. Crosby had four kills and five aces, while Rimando added for kills and five blocks.
D'Esposito led Worcester State with eight kills on 22 swings (.227), while Burgio and Angela Colonis added six apiece. Colonis also passed out 13 assists and added 11 digs, while Burgio had a team-high 14 digs.
Mount Holyoke again attacked at its best in the first set, getting 13 kills on 28 attempts with only two errors as a team (.393) while holding Worcester State to -.037 attacking in a dominating set win.
Crosby served two aces and Worcester State committed three attack errors as Mount Holyoke built a commanding 10-1 lead and didn't look back.
Each set in the match was closer than the one before. In the second set, Mount Holyoke expanded its lead from 10-9 to 16-9 with a key 6-0 run. A kill by Gabby Alberghini and a Lyons attack error drew the Lancers within six points at 23-17, but a kill by Rimando and an attack error gave Mount Holyoke the 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set was tied 10 times, from 3-3 to 20-20, before the Lyons ended the day with a final 5-0 run on serves by Barton. Simon had a kill and teamed up with Rimando on a block, before Barton served up an ace for the final point of the match.
Next up for the Lyons is a home non-conference match against Connecticut College scheduled for Tuesday at 7pm. Worcester State will host Rhode Island College Thursday at 7pm.
