WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL ROLLS PAST RIC, 3-0

BOSTON, Mass. – The Emmanuel College women's volleyball team used a balance offensive attack to defeat Rhode Island College, 3-0 (25-10, 25-9, 25-20), for just the second time in the program's history Tuesday evening at the Jean Yawkey Center. The two squads have now faced off 10 times with the Anchorwomen (0-15) owning an 8-2 all-time record but it was the Saints (8-8) who came away with the victory in tonight's non-conference tilt. The only other win for Emmanuel against Rhode Island came back during the 2009 season.

Emmanuel jumped out to a 7-0 lead to open the match behind the strong service game of junior outside hitter Christine Durkee (Salem, Conn.). Later in the frame a service ace from sophomore setter Shannon Dudley gave EC a commanding 18-3 lead before sophomore outside hitter Michelle Malboeuf (Cumberland, R.I.) slammed home a kill for RIC to stop the bleeding but it was too little to late as the Saints held on for a 25-10 first set win.

Set two kicked off much like set one as EC raced out to a 6-0 lead, this time behind a strong service run from sophomore middle hitter Brittany Tutalo (Johnston, R.I.). The Anchorwomen were never able to get anything going offensively in this set, hitting -.300 with just two kills and eight errors on 20 attempts. Meanwhile, the hosts swung away at a .423 clip, connecting on 12 kills on 26 attempts en route to a 25-9 set two win.

The Anchorwomen showed a lot of fight in set three, keeping the action close the entire way. A kill from RIC senior middle Amanda Cabral (Riverside, R.I.) evened the score at 12-12. Later in the action, an EC service error again locked the score, this time at 20-all. Fortunately for Emmanuel, an Anchorwomen service error gave them the ball right back and a strong service game to by freshman outside hitter Cassie Chruscielski (Duluth, Minn.) closed out the set with a 25-20 victory to seal the Saints seventh win in nine matches.

Chruscielski ended the night with a game-high 11 kills and five aces for Emmanuel while freshman middle hitter Kaitlyn Atkinson (Brookline, N.H.) chipped in with nine kills. Dudley dished out a game-high 14 assists while freshman setter Sophie Fish (North Attleboro, Mass.) collected seven assists in the third set.

Malboeuf paced Rhode Island College with a team-best eight kills while sophomore Lauren Palazzini recoded 13 assists and four aces.

The Saints return to action on Saturday afternoon when they open up Great Northeast Athletic Conference action with a tri-match against Johnson & Wales University and Lasell College starting at 12:00 PM. RIC is back on the court this Thursday when they host UMass Boston in Little East Conference play at 6:00 PM.