BENNINGTON, Vt. – The Southern Vermont College women's volleyball team celebrated its Senior Day Saturday at the Mountaineer Athletic Center and nearly pulled off a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) victory over Lesley University. Instead, the visiting Lynx were resilient and came back to take a 3-2 road victory for their fifth league win of the year.
LU won the opening set by a 25-22 edge before Southern Vermont responded with a 25-20 win to even the match. SVC carried its momentum into a 25-17 victory in the third frame, but Lesley was able to extend the night with an elongated 27-25 fourth-set win. The Lynx then grabbed the decisive game by a 15-9 margin to capture their third-straight against Southern Vermont.
Prior to Saturday's start, SVC recognized and honored its lone senior in captain Brin Goldman (St. Croix, Virgin Islands) for her hard work and dedication to the program over the last four years.
The Mountaineers (5-19, 0-7 NECC) conclude their 2016 season next Saturday, October 29 with a 12 p.m. NECC match at Mitchell College. LU (8-12, 5-1 NECC) turns to a Monday non-conference tilt, hosting Dean College at 8 p.m.
Lesley tallied 55 kills in the match to SVC's 44 and had 89 digs on the defensive end to the Mountaineers' 75.
Goldman paced Southern Vermont with 13 kills, adding 23 assists and six service aces to her line; she also popped up 13 digs in the effort for her second career triple-double. Freshman Sarah Billow (South Glens Falls, N.Y.) had 11 kills, 17 digs and three aces on the night while sophomore libero Lizzy Bench (St. Petersburg, Fla.) had a team-best 26 digs and a match-high eight service aces. Freshman Tay Phillips (Stephentown, N.Y.) registered nine kills, nine digs and three aces, and Bennington College freshman Gaby Oropeza (Riverside, Calif.) tallied six kills, 10 digs and six assists. SVC junior Ambroisine Agbelor (Harlem, N.Y.) had one of the best matches of her season, knocking down three blocks and three kills in the evening.
Lesley junior Kaylee Deluga (Dennis, Mass.) recorded a contest-high 18 kills while also notching six digs and five aces. Classmate Anni Abbruzzese (Croton on Hudson, N.Y.) followed with 15 kills as she tallied 11 digs, and fellow junior captain Sarah Hollis (Hudson, Mass.) finished with 10 kills, eight digs and two block assists. Senior captain Jess Reynolds (Londonderry, N.H.) had a match-best 33 digs to go with her four aces and four kills, and junior setter Allie Charron (Barnstable, Mass.) facilitated the offense with 42 assists while chipping in with 11 digs.
Lesley staked a 12-6 lead in the opening set, four of those points coming on service aces with three straight being off the hand of Deluga. SVC used a timeout and came out of it with momentum, going on a 9-1 run to take a two-point upper hand; Goldman was stellar from behind the line in that stretch, ripping across five-straight aces as she picked on the back-right corner of the court. A pair of Bench service aces put SVC ahead 19-14, only to see Lesley come back with seven unanswered with the help of two Abbruzzese kills. Southern Vermont was able to tie it at 21-21, but LU won the next three before putting it away with a Mountaineer service error.
A pair of kills by both Hollis and Abbruzzese helped put the Lynx up 8-6 in the early portion of the second frame, only to see the Mountaineers score six-unanswered points behind a pair of Bench aces. SVC would take five-of-six soon after to go up 20-13-- Goldman, Phillips and Billow each landing a kill during that stretch. A Southern Vermont timeout couldn't stop Lesley from notching five straight to get back within two, but a Goldman kill and Bench service ace helped the Mountaineers close out the set and tie the match at 1-1.
SVC won the first four points of the third and never trailed the rest of the game. Lesley was able to tie it at 6-6, only to see Southern Vermont win the next six for a 12-6 lead; Phillips knocked across three aces in that spurt while Oropeza put down a pair of kills. Hollis landed two kills of her own to help LU get back within four (16-14), but the visitors could only muster three points the rest of the way as the Mountaineers continued their success from behind the line to win it 25-17.
SVC carried its momentum into the fourth, going on top 9-3 as Billow served for six-straight points with a pair of aces. The next five Lesley points came via kills, Reynolds notching a pair while three other Lynx added one apiece. Southern Vermont took four out of five to go up 18-11, Goldman registering two kills in that stretch while Billow had one of her own. LU turned the tables at that point, however, and clawed back to extend the match. Lesley took to an 11-1 run that forced two Mountaineer timeouts, getting four aces to hit the floor as the visitors went up by three. The teams traded points back-and-forth as the frame went to extra serves, but an SVC miscue and ensuing Deluga kill put it away for LU to force the decisive fifth set.
Lesley controlled the onset of the final frame, going up 5-1 with two kills by both Deluga and Abbruzzese. Southern Vermont came back with four straight to tie it, Bench landing a pair of aces as Phillips added a kill. LU took four of the next five, however-- Abbruzzese having three kills in that spurt while Hollis tallied the fourth. A Billow kill and Lynx mishap got the Mountaineers back within two (11-9), but Lesley closed out the night with the next four-straight points behind a pair of Deluga kills for the win.
– #LetsGoSVC –