BOSTON, Mass. – The Southern Vermont College women's volleyball team began its 2016 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) schedule Saturday afternoon at the Winsor School, falling 3-0 to hosting Newbury College.
The Nighthawks took the match in straight sets with scores of 25-12, 25-21, and 25-17.
SVC (3-12, 0-1 NECC) continues the Conference schedule on Tuesday, hosting Bay Path University for a 7 p.m. first serve.
Mountaineer freshman Sarah Billow (South Glens Falls, N.Y.) led the team with nine kills, adding 10 digs and an assist to her line. Freshman Tay Phillips (Stephentown, N.Y.) followed with five kills and nine digs while sophomore Lizzy Bench (St. Petersburg, Fla.) had a pair of kills to go with her 12 digs. Senior captain Brin Goldman (St. Croix, Virgin Islands) popped up 13 assists and had five digs on the defensive end as Bennington College freshman Gaby Oropeza (Riverside, Calif.) notched a team-high 18 digs in the effort.
A pair of NC miscues saw SVC trail just 8-7 in the first frame, but the Nighthawks then rallied for an 11-2 run that put them ahead comfortably. NC would grab another three straight before putting it away with a final kill.
Southern Vermont started the second with some momentum, going up 9-3 with the help of kills by Bench and Billow. Newbury took five of the next six to get within two, only to see SVC pull back in front by five after a Goldman service ace. Points were traded for the Mountaineers to lead 16-11, but the hosts stormed back with five unanswered points to tie it up. Phillips landed a kill before a ball handling error by NC made it a 20-19 Southern Vermont edge late in the frame. The rest would be all NC, however, as the Nighthawks won six of the next seven points to go up 2-0 on the evening.
Newbury grabbed the first two points of the third set and went on to tally 10 kills in the third set. Southern Vermont had seven kills of its own in the final frame but committed the same amount of attacking errors for the Nighthawks to close out the sweep.
– #LetsGoSVC –