BENNINGTON, Vt. – Starting off on the right foot, the Southern Vermont College women's volleyball team came out of a five-setter with a 3-2 victory over the visiting Norwich University Cadets Friday night at the Mountaineer Athletic Center in both teams' season-opener.
Southern Vermont (1-0) ties the overall series 3-3 after Norwich (0-1) took the first three meetings. The hosts won with game scores of 25-23, 25-17, 17-25, 21-25, and 15-9.
Mountaineer junior transfer Jessica Delgado (Los Angeles, Calif.) led all players with a .235 hitting percentage, recording 24 kills and eight errors on 68 swings; she also had match highs of 26 digs and 31 points
SVC was able to battle through a tight first set to come away with the 25-23 win after the two teams traded leads at various points through the game. The Mountaineers kept up the pressure and forced Norwich into its only negative team hitting percentage for any set, taking the 25-17 win to go up 2-0 in the match.
The Cadets would not go down quietly, however, and they came right back to have their best set percentage of the night (.188) en route to the 25-17 game victory. They then used six-straight points after the score was tied at 14 apiece to take a lead they would not relinquish, winning the fourth by a score of 25-21 and forcing the deciding set.
Southern Vermont's hitting efficiency would prove to be the advantage in the final frame with the Mountaineers committing only three errors and 10 kills on 22 attack attempts to hit .318 and take the game 15-9.
Mountaineer sophomore Sheilani Kaleopa (Riverside, Calif.) led all players with 21 assists, and senior Carrie Baltazar (Whittier, Calif.) was not far behind with 19 of her own to go along with 15 digs. Junior Marissa Flores (Azusa, Calif.) had 16 kills with 17 digs.
Norwich sophomore Tara Lyons (Pocasset, Mass.) led the Cadets with 11 kills, and sophomore Angie Hershberger (Felton, Calif.) followed with nine to go along with her 11 digs. Freshman Alex Reudiger (Sandy Lake, Pa.) recorded a team-high 21 digs, while junior Alex Palmer (South Windsor, Conn.) was right behind with 18 in addition to her five kills and eight assists. Junior Corrine Baita (Rochester, N.H.) led the Cadets with 14 assists.
The Mountaineers turn to Saturday's quad-match at Wheaton College during which they will play Western New England University (1 p.m.), Wheaton (3 p.m.), and Simmons College (5 p.m.). Norwich takes a week off and returns to action at the Victory Promotions Invitational hosted by SUNY Potsdam and St. Lawrence University; they will take on Potsdam at 4 p.m. and then faceoff in a rematch with Southern Vermont at 6 p.m.