BEVERLY, Mass.- Endicott played host to CCC foe Curry and North Shore foe Salem State on Saturday in women's volleyball action and the host Gulls claimed two 3-0 sweeps on the day. Endicott defeated Curry to improve to 4-2 in CCC play by scores of 25-11, 25-19, 25-15 before taking care of Salem State 25-7, 25-9 and 25-13 to improve to 14-14 on the year overall. Endicott now turns its attention to Tuesday when they will play host to CCC foe University of New England (UNE) at 7:00 p.m. Bot teams enter the contest with four CCC wins on the season while UNE has just one loss heading into a Sunday match at Roger Williams at 2:00 p.m.
MATCH ONE: Endicott 3 Curry 0
Endicott's offense came out on fire in the first match of the day as the Gulls hit a blistering .354 (45-11-96) against Curry, opening the match with a .406 first set (17-4-32). Endicott was all over the Colonels defensively, holding the visitors to just a .036 average (14-12-56) on the match, including a -.050 first set.
The Gulls were led defensively by senior Jessica Petrucci (Cape Coral, Fla.) who tied for a team high with six digs as she was honored before the match. Tying Petrucci were freshmen Elise Morgan (Holbrook, Mass.) and Cydney Pierce (Santa Barbara, Calif.) while sophomore Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) was right behind, finishing with five of her own.
McIntyre also recorded a match high 14 kills as she hit at a .303 clip (14-4-33) to lead an Endicott offense that saw five players hit .300 or better. Fellow sophomore Kelli Sugrue (Tewksbury, Mass.) led the Gulls with an .875 average as she was nearly perfect, picking up seven kills on eight error-free swings. Hayley Knapp (Valencia, Calif.) finished second on the team with eight kills (8-1-13, .538), while Lexi Watts (San Diego, Calif.) and Jayla Brennen (Litchfield, N.H.) hit .571 (5-1-7) and .300 (4-1-10), respectively. Setter Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) finished the match with 39 assists while also picking up two aces.
For Curry, Christina Wallis (Peabody, Mass.) played well, leading the team with five kills and a .444 average (5-1-9). Setter Makayla Hughes (Franklin, N.H.) led the Colonels with 10 assists while also picking up seven digs, third on the team behind libero Courtney Carroll (Fairhaven, Mass.) who led the match with 12, and Taylor Faieta (Lynn, Mass.) who finished with nine. Nicole Grambley (North Attleboro, Mass.) finished second on the team with four kills as she also chipped in two aces and two assist blocks to finish with a team high seven points.
MATCH TWO: Endicott 3 Salem State 0
Endicott continued their dominance into the third set of the tri-match (Salem State defeated Curry in five in between), taking down their North Shore rivals in straight sets. The Gulls forced the Vikings into a good amount of errors, limiting their offense to a -.191 average (9-22-68) while also serving up 17 aces on the match.
Leading the way from the service line for Endicott was sophomore middle Hayley Knapp (Valencia, Calif.) who finished with nine aces on the match. Her nine aces puts her into a tie for fifth in the single match record for aces, just two behind the record setting performance of Ally Murphy (12), against Anna Maria on September 15, 2007.
Knapp also led the team in blocks with one solo and two assist blocks and finished tied for third on the team with three kills (3-1-8, .250). Leading the charge offensively was freshman Elise Morgan (Holbrook, Mass.) who finished with seven kills on 20 swings. Lexi Watts (San Diego, Calif.) hit a team high .375 (4-1-8) while Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) finished with three kills, five aces and four digs. Setter Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) dished out a match high 17 assists in the win as she tied with Cydney Pierce (Santa Barbara, Calif.) for the team high in digs with nine. Senior Jessica Petrucci (Cape Coral, Fla.) was second with five.
For the Vikings, junior Emily Peay (Lebanon, Conn.) led the way with five kills and one assist block after collecting 18 kills, 10 digs and two blocks against Curry. Setter Micaela Forcaciari (Plymouth, Mass.) finished with nine assists against the Gulls as she posted 50 in the win over Curry while libero Hannah Mullarkey (Salem, Mass.) finished both matches with the high for digs, recording 13 against Endicott and 19 against Curry. Sophomore Alexandra Hopkinson (Reading, Mass.) was stellar against the Colonels, hitting .340 and recording 25 kills (25-9-47) before being bottled up by Endicott, finishing with just one kill against the Gulls.
With the wins, Endicott moves to an even .500, sitting at 14-14 overall and 4-2 in CCC play. Curry falls to 7-20 (1-7 CCC) after the setbacks, while Salem State moves to 5-13 (2-3 MASCAC). Endicott plays host to UNE on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. before traveling to Western New England Saturday to wrap up their regular season play while Curry closes their regular season and looks to get some help to make the CCC postseason. Salem State still has three more matches on their schedule as they host Mount Ida on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. before also hosting Worcester State and Gordon for a tri-match on the 1st of November.
