SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Wellesley College volleyball (8-7 Overall, 3-5 NEWMAC) dropped a 3-0 NEWMAC match at Springfield College (15-5 Overall, 6-2 NEWMAC) at Dana Gymnasium on Tuesday. The Pride won by scores of 25-16, 25-21 and 25-23.
Springfield senior Natalie Billet (Commack, N.Y.) led all players with 12 kills on .385 hitting. Senior Riley Donahue (South Windsor, Conn.) also reached double digits with 10 kills. Junior Maeve Voltz (Bay Shore, N.Y.) chipped in with seven kills. Sophomore Tori Colosimo (Fairport, N.Y.) ran the offense with 34 assists. Graduate Kristen DeLorenzo (Syracuse, N.Y.) had 13 digs.
Sophomore
Kate Giang (Corte Madera, Calif.) paced the Blue with 10 kills and nine digs. Sophomore
Evelyn Hill (Rocklin, Calif.) tallied six kills and two aces. First-year
Else Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) finished with 15 assists, three blocks and three aces. First-year
Ella Mancuso (North Andover, Mass.) added five kills. Junior
Kaija Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) picked up a match best 19 digs.
The Blue opened the match with a 4-1 run, but was answered by a 5-2 spurt by Springfield to tie the score at 6-6. The home team slowly pulled away, thanks to .333 hitting with 14 kills, for a 25-16 win. Donahue led all players with six kills in the set. Giang and Mancuso had three kills apiece for the Blue.
The second set featured seven ties, including at 14-14. Springfield then went on an 8-1 run to force a Blue timeout trailing 22-15. Wellesley rallied but came up short as a Voltz kill gave Springfield the 25-21 second set victory. Billet had four kills for the second set in a row for the Pride, while Giang added four kills for Wellesley.
The Pride led 10-4 early in the third. Wellesley did not go quietly as the Blue began to chip away to eventual pull even at 23-23. Unfortunately for the visitors, the Pride notched the next two points to secure the set and the match. Hill posted six kills in the set for Wellesley.
Wellesley will return home to host Bowdoin College in a non-conference match on Friday, October 25 at 6:00 PM. Springfield faces Tufts University at that same day and time as part of the New England Challenge in Medford, Mass.
