WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL TEAM FACES TOUGH COMPETITION AT ENDICOTT INVITATIONAL
Sept. 11, 2010
BEVERLY, Mass. - The Emmanuel College Women's Volleyball Team competed in Endicott College's Invitational Tournament on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. The Saints faced tough competition, opening play versus host Endicott College and then taking on Eastern Connecticut State, Middlebury and MIT. Emmanuel was defeated in all four matches, but managed to take Eastern Connecticut into five sets before falling, 3-2.
In the first match of the tournament, the host Gulls defeated Emmanuel 3-0 (25-14, 25-11, 25-16) behind an all-around performance by junior Sarah Allshouse (Berthoud, Colo.). Allshouse dished out 33 assists, led the Gulls defensively with 14 digs, and added four kills without an error. Allshouse spread the offense out to several Endicott attackers as Brittney Phillips (Sudbury, Mass.) and Elyse Barbour (Greenville, R.I.) shared a team-high nine kills apiece and both Amy Grigg (Vernon, Conn.) and Falyn Torelli (Pelham, N.Y.) added eight kills, respectively.
For the Saints, junior outside hitter Jenna Ross (Centerburg, Ohio) led the offensive charge with nine kills while adding five digs and a service ace. Also contributing on the attack was sophomore Rachel Swiezynski (Exeter, N.H.) who had four kills on 15 attacks without recording an error. Libero Yun-Ting Lee (Cambridge, Mass.) was a presence defensively with 10 digs.
Gulls sophomore libero Ashley Norley (Sudbury, Mass.) continued to be a presence in the back row with another double-digit dig match, tallying 12 for Endicott. As a team, Endicott compiled an impressive .402 hit percentage on the match.
Later in the evening, Emmanuel dropped a five-set decision to Eastern Connecticut State University. The nail-biting five-setter featured extremely close sets with ECSU taking the opener, 25-23, and the Saints rebounding to take set two, 25-26. The Warriors took the third, 27-25, and the Saints took the fourth, 25-20. The deciding set went to ECSU by a score of 15-13.
Ross led Emmanuel with a double-double of 19 digs and 16 kills, to go along with her 3 service aces. Rebecca Stanton (Quincy, Mass.) added 13 kills and 7 blocks, while Kathryne Olsen (Fairhaven, Mass.) dished out 47 assists. Samantha Andazola (Queen Creek, Ariz.) also notched a double-double with 14 digs and 12 kills for the Saints.
The Saints faced two strong opponents in Middlebury and MIT on Saturday and dropped both matches in three sets. Andazola and Ross led Emmanuel with 8 kills apiece and combined for 19 digs vs. Middlebury. Stanton and Ross then led the Saints vs. MIT with 7 kills apiece, while Lee led the Emmanuel defense with 17 kills in the match.
Ross' play over the weekend earned the junior outside-hitter All-Tournament Team Honorable Mention honors. She finished with a total of 40 kills in the four matches. The 0-5 Saints will be looking for their first win of the season on Tuesday night, when they play at Wentworth Institute of Technology in a 7pm start.
Complete results from the Endicott Invitational are as follows:
POOL A RESULTS Endicott def. Emmanuel 3-0 (25-14, 25-11, 25-16) Endicott def. Middlebury 3-2 (26-24, 23-25, 25-22, 19-25, 15-8) Middlebury def. ECSU 3-0 (25-233, 25-11, 27-25) ECSU def. Emmanuel 3-2 (26-24, 16-25, 27-25, 25-20, 15-13) Endicott def. ECSU 3-1 (25-21, 25-23, 21-25, 25-18) Middlebury def. Emmanuel 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-14)
POOL B RESULTS Plymouth def. Bowdoin 3-1(25-15, 26-24, 22-25, 25-22) Plymouth def. Salve Regina 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-21) Salve def. MIT 3-2 (25-13, 25-22, 20-25, 22-25, 15-12) Bowdoin def. MIT 3-2 (22-25, 21-25, 26-24, 25-22, 15-6) MIT def. Plymouth 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 23-25, 25-23) Bowdoin def. Salve Regina 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-15)
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH Endicott def. Plymouth State 3-1 (17-25, 25-14, 25-23, 27-25) 3rd Place Middlebury def. Bowdoin 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-18) 5th Place ECSU def. Salve Regina 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 27-25) 7th place MIT def. Emmanuel 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-16)
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM MVP - \#7 Brittany Phillips (OH, Endicott College) \#3 Sarah Allshouse (S, Endicott College) \#11 Alex Avery (L, Plymouth State) \#4 Casey Stoodley (OH, Plymouth State) \#16 Jane Handel (OH, Middlebury) \#11 Melissa Haskell (OH, Bowdoin)
Honorable Mention ECSU - \#14, OH, Erynn Miller Salve Regina - 39, L/OH, Megan Clancy MIT - \#9, MH, Cecily Joujon-Rouche Emmanuel - \#15, OH, Jenna Ross