Women's Volleyball Triumphs in Five-Set Match at Rhode Island College

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – After splitting the first four sets, Emmanuel and Rhode Island College needed all five sets to determine a winner on Tuesday night, and with the Saints claiming a 15-11 win in the tiebreaking set, EC women's volleyball improved to 2-1 this season with a 3-2 (23-25, 25-9, 25-23, 19-25, 15-11) win over the Anchorwomen in non-conference play.

The Saints looked poised to win the opening set, leading by five at 22-17, late in the set. But a series of Saints attack errors and Anchorwomen aces allowed RIC to charge back with an 8-1 run to close the set and win 25-23.

It was all Emmanuel in the second set, using 13 team kills and a red-hot .393 attack percentage to win the set 25-9. The Saints opened the second on a 17-2 run in the dominant set victory.

The third set was back and forth, winding its way to 23-23 late in the set. An assisted block by senior Sasha Hyacinthe (Stoughton, Mass.) and sophomore Maeve Gaffny (North Andover, Mass.), followed by a kill for sophomore Isabella Marquez (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), would give EC a 25-23 third set win.

Rhode Island College battled back from multiple deficits in the fourth set to force a final set decider. The Anchorwomen trailed in the early going, but a 14-5 run through the middle and late portions of the set helped lift RIC to a 25-19 set victory.

The Saints led wire-to-wire in the deciding set, jumping out to a four-point advantage of 7-3. Despite the Anchorwomen cutting the deficit to a single point on multiple occasions, the Saints stood strong, eventually claiming five of the final six points, capped off by an RIC serving error, lifting EC to a 15-11 set win.

Marquez finished the night with a career-best 14 kills to go along with 13 digs for her first career double-double. Sophomore Wiktoria Galazyn (Plainville, Conn.) added a career-high 13 kills and 22 digs in the victory. Junior Paula Tanguilig (Sandwich, Mass.) posted a career-high with 16 digs while first-year Kason Huynh (Mission Viejo, Calif.) had a career-best 18 assists.

For the Anchorwomen, junior Megan Philbrick (Johnston, R.I.) and sophomore Sydnee Pires (Rochester, Mass.) each finished with 11 kills. Junior libero Nicole Normandin (Blackstone, Mass.) recorded a career-high 27 digs.

The Saints head into the weekend with a Saturday tri-match at Eastern Nazarene with the Lions and St. Joseph's of Long Island, with matches starting at 1:00 p.m. The Anchorwomen (2-3) have a week off before hosting Framingham State for a 7:00 p.m. match on Sept. 19.