SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Wellesley College volleyball went tooth and nail in its NEWMAC opener with Springfield College, coming up just short in a 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 25-10, 25-15, 15-13) match at Blake Arena on Tuesday night.
The Pride (9-2 Overall, 1-0 NEWMAC) saw first-year Zakiya Hiatt (Calgary, AB) register 12 kills and 13 digs. Senior Tori Colosimo (Fairport, N.Y.) had 36 assists and 10 digs while senior Jodi Saelua (Milalani, Hawaii) earned six total blocks at the net.
Senior Evie Hill (Rocklin, Calif.) led the way for the Blue (6-3 Overall, 0-1 NEWMAC) with 15 kills and a .344 hitting percentage. Junior Else Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) supplied 30 assists and 10 digs while sophomore Brianna Milliken (Newton, Mass.) manned the net with six total blocks.
Offense was the theme of the first set, with the two squads combining for 25 kills. The Blue recorded 12 kills and a .226 hitting percentage as a unit.Â
Springfield evened the match up in the second after sprinting out to a 9-3 advantage. The Pride ended a 25-19 frame with 15 kills and a .379 hitting percentage.
The third set was the most dominant of the match for Coach Dorothy Webb's Blue. The visitors claimed the first nine points, with three kills from Hill, two by Milliken and an ace and a kill from junior Sarah Jin (San Jose, Calif.). The hosts never recovered from the early blow as Wellesley's offense clicked with a white-hot .421 attack percentage in the third.
The Pride regained footing in the fourth, mounting a 10-3 edge. Wellesley shrunk the deficit to three at 11-8 with a kill by first-year Delia Noel (Telluride, Colo.). However, a 5-0 Springfield stretch shortly after put Wellesley down nine. Soon the Pride sent the match to a deciding fifth set.
Wellesley jumped out to a 4-2 score early in the final set before Springfield countered with a 4-0 run. The two teams stayed within reach of one-another, with the Pride up one at 9-8, 10-9, 11-10 and 12-11. An ace from Hill knotted it up at 12's but two Springfield points pushed the match to the brink. While the Blue saved one match point, it couldn't stop the other, with the hosts squeaking by on a game-clinching kill by Saelua.
Each team plays a NEWMAC match on Saturday, September 26. The Blue face Wheaton College on the road at noon while the Pride compete at WPI at 1:00 PM.
