BENNINGTON, Vt. – The Southern Vermont College women's volleyball team swept visiting Elms College 3-0 Tuesday night at the Mountaineer Athletic Center in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action to improve to 2-0 in league play (5-6 overall). The Blazers are now 0-1 in the conference, 4-11 overall.
Southern Vermont took the match with set scores of 25-16, 25-16, and 25-11.
The Mountaineers were led by junior Jessica Delgado (Los Angeles, Calif.) who tallied 10 kills, followed narrowly by senior Carrie Baltazar (Whittier, Calif.) who recorded nine.
SVC came out in the first set and took a 7-3 lead before Elms had to burn a timeout. Following the rest, both teams battled back-and-forth as Southern Vermont was unable to pull away. Finally, the Mountaineers increased the lead to 20-15 before another Blazer play stoppage; SVC carried its momentum through the timeout and went on a 5-1 run to seal the 25-16 frame win.
Elms took a quick lead with service in the second game but could not hold off the efficient Mountaineer attack that brought Southern Vermont out to a 13-10 advantage. A seven-point run gave the hosts a 20-10 cushion en route to another 25-16 set victory.
The Mountaineers were able to limit their errors in the final game, only committing one as they posted a .364 hitting percentage, their best of the night. As the score stood at 14-9 in favor of SVC, sophomore setter Sheilani Kaleopa (Riverside, Calif.) served for five-straight points before Southern Vermont capped the match with the 25-11 win.
Southern Vermont recorded only nine hitting errors on 83 swings in the match, totaling a .301 hitting percentage with 34 kills. Delgado and Baltazar had just one and two attack errors, respectively. Senior libero Vanessa Ruelas (Paramount, Calif.) led all players with 12 digs as Baltazar and junior Marissa Flores (Azusa, Calif.) followed with nine apiece. Kaleopa assisted on 21 of the 32 Mountaineer kills, also a match-high.
Blazer junior JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) led the team with six kills as junior libero Caitlyn Larvey (Greenfield, Mass.) tallied 10 digs on the night. Sophomore Alexandra Mack (Wilbraham, Mass.) had nine digs to go along with four kills, and sophomore setter Shannon Bolton (Shelton, Conn.) assisted on 14 of the 17 Elms kills.
The Mountaineers try to remain undefeated in the NECC with a 1 p.m. Saturday match at Bay Path College, and Elms looks to rebound with a Thursday conference matchup at Lesley University scheduled to start at 8 p.m.