BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's volleyball honored their lone senior, outside hitter Callie Dolan (Westford, Mass.), with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-16) victory over CCC opponent Eastern Nazarene on Tuesday night and inched closer to the end of their regular season and the start of another postseason run.
Endicott improved to 19-13 (6-2 CCC) with the win and will close out their regular season on the road with a non-conference tri-match with Brandeis and Connecticut College. The tri-match will be held on Saturday, November 2nd in Waltham, Massachusetts. The Lions dropped to 13-15 (1-5 CCC) on the season and will next travel to league rival Curry on Halloween night.
Dolan, in her final home regular season match of her four-year career, totaled seven kills and eight digs with a service ace. For her career, Dolan has surpassed the 1,000-kill plateau and ranks sixth all-time in Endicott history in that category. She also ranks eighth in total blocks with 202.
Endicott also benefited from a pair of errorless offensive efforts from sophomore middle Mackenzie Guerre (Carlsbad, Calif.) and freshman middle Hayley Knapp (Valencia, Calif.) who combined for 15 kills and zero errors on 27 attempts for a .556 hitting percentage. Sophomore setter Alleigh VanderMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) dished out 25 assists in three sets while contributing defensively with seven digs and on the service line with four aces.
Defensively, the Gulls were led by a trio of freshman in Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.), Lilly Benabou (Medway, Mass.), and Erika Trudon (Coventry, Conn.) who had 11, nine, and nine digs, respectively. Sophomore Lexi Watts (San Diego, Calif.) led the team with three block assists in the win.
For the Lions, senior middle Cayla Clinkscale (Winchendon, Mass.) had a match-high 10 kills with five digs and an ace. Outside hitters Kortney Jenkins (Bunker Hill, W.V.) and Hannah Welsh (Derry, N.H.) contributed with six and four kills, respectively. Setter Lauryl Berger (Laurel, Del.) amassed 20 assists in the loss.
Jenkins and Welsh also factored into Eastern Nazarene's defensive game with 13 and 10 digs each while libero Sam Losano (Elverta, Calif.) added six more.
Other standout performances include three kills with no errors on five attempts by freshman middle Kelli Sugrue (Tewksbury, Mass.) on came on to play a solid third set.