WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL HOLDS ON FOR 3-1 WIN OVER WHEATON

BOSTON, Mass. – The Emmanuel College women's volleyball team held on for a 3-1 (25-21, 29-27, 18-25, 25-23) victory over Wheaton College Thursday evening at the Jean Yawkey Center in non-conference action. Despite late rallies in sets three and four, the Saints improve to 11-9 overall on the year while the loss drops the Lions record to 9-9.

Freshman middle hitter Kaitlyn Atkinson (Brookline, N.H.) paced the Saints offensive effort with a match-high 13 kills while junior right side hitter Sarah Colby (West Barnstable, Mass.) added 11 kills. Sophomore setter Shannon Dudley (Morro Bay, Calif.) ran the offensive show with 34 assists while also collecting nine digs. Junior libero Cara Callahan (Medway, Mass.) was solid defensively with a match-high 14 digs.

For the Lyons, sophomore outside hitter Arieanne Creighton (Brookline, N.H.) and sophomore middle hitter Kendall Jacobs (San Diego, Calif.) each collected 10 kills while sophomore setter Deidre Wilson (Aptos, Calif.) registered a match-high 39 assists. Sophomore Elise Waelder (San Diego, Calif.) paced their defensive unit with 13 digs.

After allowing the first two points of the match, Emmanuel rolled off six consecutive points to take a 6-2 lead following a kill from Colby to take control of the opening set. Wheaton would pull within two late in the frame as Jacobs slammed home a kill to make it 20-18 but EC was able to take the set 25-21 following another Colby smash.

Set two featured 10 ties and 11 lead changes but it was the Saints who would prevail, 29-27. Trailing 23-21, Emmanuel rolled off back to back points capped by an Atkinson kill to lock the score at 23-all. Each team would have a chance to serve for the set as Wheaton had set-point service tries at 25-24 as well as 27-26 while Emmanuel could have closed it out at 26-25 before finally ending the frame on a Colby kill to take the set and a 2-0 lead in the match.

The third set was back and forth through much of the action as EC led 12-10 midway through the frame before Wheaton fought back to tie it at 15-15. From that point on it was all Wheaton in the frame as the visitors would outscore EC 10-3 over the home stretch, capped by an ace from freshman Anna Strock (Centerville, Mass.) to capture the 25-18 win.

It looked like the Saints would make quick work of the Lyons in set four, racing out to a 13-7 lead but a Wheaton timeout cooled off the hosts and allowed the visitors to regroup. Following the TO, Wheaton would go on a 9-3 run with a service ace from freshman outside hitter Gabby Gryko (Moraga, Calif.) evening the score at 16-16. The teams would trade leads through the final sequences with Wheaton pulled ahead 23-21 before Emmanuel rattled off the final four points of the match as Dudley collected the final kill to seal the 25-23 win for EC.

Emmanuel returns to action this Saturday when they host Albertus Magnus College and Mount Ida College in a GNAC tri-match scheduled to begin at 12:00 PM while the Lyons are idle until Tuesday, October 8 when they travel to Emerson College for a NEWMAC battle.