CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 8 seed Wellesley College volleyball fell to No. 12 ranked and top-seeded MIT 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-21) in the NEWMAC Championship Quarterfinal at Rockwell Cage on Tuesday night. MIT will now host No. 5 seed Coast Guard Academy in the semifinals on Saturday, November 15.
First-year Ella Zhou (Beijing, China) finished with 10 kills and 12 digs for Tech (25-3). Junior Kayleigh May (Camarillo, Calif.) had 35 assists while sophomore Sophia Song (Plano, Texas) led all individuals with 17 digs.
Senior Kaija Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) recorded eight kills and 12 digs for the Blue (11-14). Kunze-Hoeg finishes her career with 1674 digs, second in program history. Junior Caroline Meyer (Indianapolis, Ind.) ended the contest with 16 digs while sophomore Else Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) had 20 assists and 12 digs. Sophomore Ella Mancuso (Andover, Mass.) and first-year Natalie Dabrowski (Chicago, Ill.) both registered five total blocks.
MIT opened the match with eight straight points. Wellesley was unable to get back within five in the set, with the Engineers putting up 16 kills and a .302 hitting percentage in the frame.Â
The second set started 9-3 in the hosts' favor. Wellesley hung around through 17-11 before MIT utilized a 5-1 run to take a large lead and close out a 25-14 stanza.
The third and final set proved to be the closest. The Blue went up 5-3 early before ceding an 8-1 stretch to make it 11-6 for the hosts. Three straight kept Wellesley close but Tech shot back with three of its own. Down 18-13, the Blue stood tall, fighting back with a trio of points. Two is as close as it would with MIT taking six of the next seven to build a 24-17 lead. Though the Blue saved four match points, ultimately the Engineers got a kill to advance forward.
