WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL DROPS HOME OPENER TO ROGER WILLIAMS, 3-0

Boston, Mass. – Junior middle hitter Krystie Luczynski (Kensington, Conn.) collected a match-high 18 kills to lead the Roger Williams University women's volleyball team past Emmanuel College, 3-0 (25-9, 25-20, 25-20) Wednesday evening in the Jean Yawkey Center Gymnasium. With the victory the Hawks improve to 3-2 on the year while the loss drops the Saints to 1-4 overall in the early goings of the 2012 campaign.

Roger Williams set the tone for the match in the first set by rattling off 14 kills with a .355 attacking percentage. A strong net game kept the host Saints in check as the Saints hit a negative -.043 in the frame to quickly fall behind in the match, 1-0.

The Hawks jumped out to a large lead in the second set behind several Luczynski kills including a winner that would put RWU up 19-8 midway through the frame. The Saints would show signs of life behind the service of sophomore outside hitter Christine Durkee (Salem, Conn.) who was able to rattle off six straight points following a Hawks error to pull the Saints to within four at 19-15, forcing Roger Williams to spend a timeout.  Emmanuel continued to push, pulling to within three points after a kill by freshman Shannon Dudley (Arroyo Grande, Calif.) to make it 22-19 in favor of the visitors but it would be as close as EC would get as the visitors were able to hold on for the 25-20 win to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Emmanuel played its best volleyball of the night early in the third set, jumping out to several early leads but could never put together a big run to pull away. With the score knotted at 12-12, RWU took the lead for good on a ball handling error by the Saints and would cruise to the 25-20 win in the set for the 3-0 sweep in the match.

Sophomore setter Alison Donnelly (Longmeadow, Mass.) played well for the Saints dishing out 15 assists to go along with four kills while Durkee added 11 digs in the effort.

For the Hawks, sophomore outside hitter Andrea Gorman (Wilbraham, Mass.) chipped in with eight kills and seven digs while senior libero Kelsee Loche (Millis, Mass.) led the defensive effort with a team-high 10 digs in the win.

Emmanuel will return to action on Friday at the Brandeis University Invitational at 7:00 PM vs. McDaniel College while Roger Williams hits the court again on Saturday when they host the Roger Williams Invitation beginning at 11:00 AM when they face off against Rivier University.