BEVERLY, Mass.- The Owls of Keene State and the Blue of Wellesley College traveled to Beverly, Mass. to take on the Gulls of Endicott College on Saturday night in some highly contested volleyball matches.
The match between Endicott and Keene State proved to be the ultimate seesaw affair. Set one saw Endicott lead for the majority of the set and take it home with a 25-17 score. The second set was a polar opposite as the Gulls struggled to find their rhythm and the Owls ran away with a 25-11 score. The third set proved to be the closest as the teams battled back and forth to the very end with Keene coming out on top 25-23. With such a young squad, the Gulls could have folded easily but the showed a great deal of resolve and battled to storm back with a 25-14 win setting up a fifth and deciding set. The Owls proved to have more left in the tank and won the set 15-8.
For the first match of the day, Endicott relied on strong play from the outside as they took Keene State down to the wire. Senior Callie Dolan (Westford, Mass.) tallied a team and match high 18 kills on 50 swings. The outside swung at a .260 clip and also picked up two aces, seven digs and four assist blocks. Freshman Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) had impressive collegiate debut at the other outside slot as she tallied 10 kills on 32 swings as she hit .219. Tori also picked up three aces and seven digs. Former CCC Rookie of the Year Mackenzie Guerre (Carlsbad, Calif.) put up a formidable block all night as she picked up five assist blocks while also grabbing six kills. Sophomore Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) picked up a match high 34 assists in the loss while also picking up seven digs.
The visiting Owls, who were running a 6-2 offense, received great setting from Alexis Michael and Brooke Bell who combined to record 53 assists (27 and 17 respectively). Angela Silveri was explosive on the pin as she knocked down a team high 15 kills on just 31 swings. Silveri also picked up two aces in the five set win. Madeline Nossif, who recorded a team high four assist blocks, also chipped in with a nice offensive output of 12 kills. Libero Sammy Dormio was stellar on defense as she led a trio of Owls with double digit digs by collecting 20. Alexis Michael picked up 15 as Christine Hadfield chipped in with 12.