SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Endicott women's volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Western New England 3-2 on Wednesday night. With the win, the Gulls improve to 16-11 on the season and 6-0 in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play while the Golden Bears fall to 15-9 (4-2 CCC).
After dropping the first two sets by identical 25-19 scores, Endicott stormed back to take the third 25-13 before edging out the hosts 25-23 to set up a winner-take-all fifth. The Gulls would claim the final frame 15-12 to return home with a 3-2 victory.
The Gulls were sparked by Emma Mancini (Lynnfield, Mass.) who entered the match in the third set and posted seven kills on 11 error-free swings (.636) in that set alone as she finished the match with 15 kills on 37 attempts (15-2-37, .351).
Endicott's offense, which struggled in the first two sets, hitting .179 in the first and .095 in the second, came to life in the third to hit .375. The Gulls then edged the Golden Bears in the fourth before hitting an emphatic .267 in the fifth, with 11 kills counting for most of the team's 15 points.
BEYOND THE BOX
- Senior Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) finished the match with 19 kills (19-4-48, .312) and 22 digs in her ninth double-double effort of the season.
- McIntyre's 22 digs were second only to fellow senior Erica Trudon (Coventry, Conn.) who registered 28 digs in the victory to go with four assists.
- Setters Mareena Clotfelter (Poulsbo, Wash.) and Mackenzie Kennedy (Natick, Mass.) recorded 54 of the team's 64 assists. Gifford notched 20 assists while Clotfelter provided 34 to add to 13 digs.
- Remi Quesnelle (Sunderland, Mass.) chipped in seven kills on 16 swings while hitting at a .375 clip to go along with a team-best two blocks.
FOR THE FOES
- Emmaline Chiodini (St. Louis, Mo.) led Western New England with 14 kills and a .324 average (14-2-37) while also tying Brianna Roath (Jackson, N.J.) for the team high with 19 digs.
- Carly Skibinski (Milford, N.J.) finished the match with 13 kills to accompany a team-best three assist blocks.
- Setter Jenna Leuck (Dumont, N.J.) posted a double-double, recording 47 assists and 13 digs in the setback.
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott is at Roger Williams for an 11:00 a.m. start on Saturday before returning to the Nest on Tuesday for the final regular season home match against Nichols at 7:00 p.m. WNE travels to UNE on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. start.