Oct. 17, 2008
BEVERLY, Mass. - In perhaps their most complete outing of the season, the Endicott College women's volleyball team swept past visiting Millikin University (Ill.), 3-0, to kick-off Homecoming Weekend on Friday night in Beverly, Massachusetts. The Gulls used set score wins of 25-22, 21-13, and 25-18 to improve to 17-12 on the season. The loss dips the Big Blue's record to 15-9.
Endicott opened the evening with a ton of energy, quickly building a lead on the visitors. Millikin fired back with consecutive kills, only to have the hosts counter with strong play upfront. The back-and-forth battle continued until late in the set, as Endicott held off a late serving run by the Big Blue to take the first frame, 25-22.
Endicott pieced together a mid-set run in the second stanza, taking a three point lead and quickly turning it into a 15-8 advantage. The Gulls continued to get solid play out of their front line, as they built the lead to 19-10. After a Millikin timeout, the two sides traded points until a Morgan Knees (Newtown, Conn.) block sparked a run to make it 21-13. Endicott went on to tally four straight points, taking the second set, 25-13.
Millikin opened set three with a quick 3-0 run. Endicott stormed back with consecutive kills and capitalized on a Big Blue error to even the score a 3-all. Each team went a mini-burst as the match continued, however Endicott began to pull away after a block on the far side by Elyse Barbour (Greenville, R.I.) to make the score 17-12. After a visitor's timeout, Millikin rattled off four-straight points on an impressive serving run by Tabitha Pennekamp (Lakeland, Fla.). Endicott ended the rally with consecutive points from Steph Wiese (Higganum, Conn.). Millikin had no answer for the explosive Endicott attack, falling 25-18 in the third set.
The Gulls were led by Wiese's 10 kills, three aces and 10 digs. Brittany Phillips (Sudbury, Mass.) had seven kills with one error on 17 swings. Phillips also had nine digs in the win. Casey Ward (Monroe, Conn.) dished out 32 assists while classmate Brittany Nolan (Monroe, Conn.) had 18 digs. Hayley Janelle (Madbury, N.H.) and Elyse Barbour each had six kills on the night.
Endicott returns to action on Wednesday evening when the Gulls step back into The Commonwealth Coast Conference play. EC will travel to New London, N.H. for a pivotal conference match against Colby-Sawyer College at 7:00 p.m. Millikin continues its East Coast swing with Western New England College, MIT and St. Mary's of Indiana on Saturday afternoon.
