Nov. 9, 2005
BEVERLY, MA - The Endicott College women's volleyball team will make its second consecutive postseason tournament Friday night when it takes on Rivier in the first round of the ECAC Tournament.
The Gulls (23-14) made their first postseason appearance last season in the NCAA Tournament after winning the Commonwealth Coast Conference. Endicott fell just shy of repeating as CCC champs, losing to Colby-Sawyer in the conference championship.
The Gulls did earn a spot in the ECAC's as the No. 5 seed and will take on Rivier - the No. 4 seed which has a record of 25-8 - Friday night (5) at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. The Raiders finished the regular season on a seven-game winning streak but lost to Emmanuel in the GNAC Tournament championship.
Although the chief goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament was not reached, Endicott still had a record-breaking campaign and will make just its second postseason appearance in school history.
The Gulls posted some impressive numbers throughout the season and broke six records in the process.
Senior outside hitter Killeen Ross (Ballston Lake, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) became the first EC player to reach 1,000-kill plateau. Ross's 1,027 kills bested the previous record of 961 set by Susan Teta in 2004. Ross now also holds the career lead in digs with 1690. That record had been held by Katie Lorinovich.
Freshman Brittany Nolan (Monroe, CT/Masuk) was also a trend-setter, eclipsing Katie Lorinovich's school record for digs in a season (547 digs in 117 games). Nolan has amassed 580 digs in 119 games.
Setter Meghan Hall (Santa Cruz, CA/Aptos) owns the school record for career assists in only her sophomore season. Hall has 2387 assists in 236 games, which was held by Krysten Silva (2001-2004), who had 2105.
Endicott has also set a couple of season records as well. Hall topped her own mark of assists in a season. Her 1246 through 118 games this season beat her old mark of 1141 helpers in 2004.
Junior middle hitter Sara Moore (Guilford, CT/Guilford) broke her own school records for kills and points in a season. Her old records for kills (357) and points (423.5) fell in 2005 as she has recorded 392 kills and 472.0 points in 2005.
The winner of Friday night's game will face top-seeded Coast Guard Saturday at 10:00 AM and the ECAC Tournament final will be held Saturday at 4 pm.
