NORTON, Mass. – Wellesley College volleyball improved to 7-3 Overall and 1-1 in NEWMAC play with a 3-0 (25-21, 27-25, 25-19) victory at Wheaton College on Saturday inside Emerson Gymnasium.
First-year Delia Noel (Telluride, Colo.) was an offensive leader with 12 kills and a .269 hitting percentage. Junior Else Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) supplied 27 assists and seven kills. Defensively, first-year Erica Lin (Hillsborough, Calif.) recorded 11 digs and sophomore Brianna Milliken (Newton, Mass.) recorded four block assists at the net.
The Lyons (4-9 Overall, 0-2 NEWMAC) saw eight kills from a trio of players. Senior Ajsa Orban (Budapest, Hungary) was the assists leader with 16 while first-year Maddy Botelho (Swansea, Mass.) had a team-high 13 digs.
At 1-1 in the first, Wellesley got hot early, rattling off 10 unanswered points with senior Evie Hill (Rocklin, Calif.) serving up a pair of aces and recording a kill. Wheaton slowly dug its heels in and chipped away, cutting it to three at 14-11. The teams exchanged points with Wellesley going up five at 20-15 on a kill from junior Ella Mancuso (North Andover, Mass.). The hosts got it back to a two-point set at 23-21 but kills from Hill and Mancuso vanquished any hope of a comeback as the Blue went up a set.
The Blue won a key 27-25 set to take a 2-0 lead and push Wheaton to the brink. The second opened with four points from Wheaton with multiple kills. Wellesley raced back to tie the set up at 9-9. From there, the lead exchanged hands many times, with neither team able to pull away. Wheaton was up 20-18 and later 24-22 in the late stages of the set. But the Blue didn't go away. A kill from Noel was followed by a Lyons error to tie it up at 24's. Two points later at 25-25, a Noel ace gave Wellesley a late lead. The visitors capitalized on a Wheaton error to come back and snag the set.
Coach Dorothy Webb's team launched a 7-0 assault to start the third with kills from Noel, Hill and Milliken. While Wheaton became competitive later in the set, the Lyons never got back within three. The closest point of the set came at 21-18 and 22-19 when the hosts appeared to be plotting a comeback. Wellesley thwarted any ideas with kills from Kunze-Hoeg and Noel. A final error by the Lyons spelled the end of a 3-0 match.
Both teams are home for 7:00 PM NEWMAC matches on Tuesday, September 29. Wellesley hosts No. 19 Babson College while Wheaton squares off with No. 10 MIT.
