Gulls Knock of Bantams 3-1 Behind Strong Play from Dolan, McIntyre and Guerre

Gulls Knock of Bantams 3-1 Behind Strong Play from Dolan, McIntyre and Guerre

BEVERLY, Mass.- Senior outside Callie Dolan (Westford, Mass.) continued her hot play on Wednesday night as she led the Gulls to a 3-1 win over the Bantams of Trinity College.  With a stellar offensive output from the entire roster, Endicott improved their record to 2-5 on the young season while Trinity fell to 2-2.  Endicott squeaked out a 25-23 first set win before Trinity claimed the second 20-25.  The third set saw another see-saw affair as the Gulls would prevail 25-22 before taking the fourth fairly easily, 25-14.

Dolan was able to pick up 19 kills while hitting at an amazing .364 clip.  She tallied the 19 kills while only committing three errors on her 44 swings.  Freshman Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) achieved yet another double-double as the outside collected 16 kills and an impressive 12 digs.  Mackenzie Guerre (Carlsbad, Calif.) also continued her stellar play as she totaled 11 kills with just three errors on 24 attempts for a .333 average.  The sophomore also led the team with six blocks as she registered two solos and four assists.  

Setter Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) played her best match of the season as she ran the offense well and picked up 48 assists for an average of 12 per set.  She also tied for the team high in digs with 18.  Freshman Erika Trudon (Coventry, Conn.) got her first start at libero and impressed as she was error free on serve receive and tied VandeMerkt with 18 digs which was also the match high.  Fellow freshman Hayley Knapp (Valencia, Calif.) had a solid night as she hit .308 while recording five kills on 13 attempts.

For the Bantams, who came into the night ranekd 11th in New England in the most recent NEWVA poll, outside Hannah Brickley (Melrose, Mass.) was outstanding as she tied Dolan for the match-high in kills with 19.  Brickley achieved the 19 kills on 54 swings with only three errors for a .296 average.  The senior was also first on the team with 14 digs as she picked up the double-double.  Freshman setter Randi Whitman (South Weymouth, Mass.) ran a solid offense as she averaged 10 assists/set on her way to tallying 40 total.  She also finished third on the team with 11 digs.  Fellow freshman Kristen Cooprider (Hopkinton, Mass.) started at libero and tied with Brickley for the team high in digs with 14. 

Endicott now looks ahead to Friday night when they travel to MIT to take on host MIT and Bates in the opening round of the MIT Invitational.  Trinity hosts Sage and Clark at the Trinity Invitational on day one.