MEDFORD, Mass. – The Endicott women's volleyball team fell to Bowdoin College, 3-0, by scores of 25-22, 25-23, and 25-14 on Friday evening in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, hosted by Tufts University, at Cousens Gym.
Remi Quesnelle (Sunderland, Mass.) paced Endicott offensively with eight kills, while Amanda Gilbert (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Colleen McAvoy (Coventry, Conn.) chipped in with seven and six putaways, respectively.
Meanwhile, Zoey Gifford (Natick, Mass.) ran the offense via a match-high 22 assists and Mackenzie Kennedy (Andover, Mass.) highlighted the defense with a team-high 15 digs.
Bowdoin was led by Caroline Flaharty (Fort Myers, Fla.) as the senior outside posted a match-high 14 kills on 29 swings (.345). The Polar Bears also received seven kills on 13 swings (.538) from Jaida Hodge-Adams (Tarzana, Calif.) and a match-high 17 digs via Emily King (Apple Valley, Minn.) in the win.
SET ONE
- Bowdoin raced out to a 10-7 lead to start the match – which forced Endicott to take its first timeout – behind a .538 hitting percentage (9K 2E 13TA).
- From there, the Polar Bears strung together a 9-5 run (19-12) to create the biggest discrepancy of seven points in the set by either team.
- After calling its second timeout, Endicott responded with a 7-2 run of its own, highlighted by kills from Gilbert, Quesnelle, and McAvoy.
- The Gulls' block also played a key role in their comeback attempt as Endicott brought the set back within one point at 23-22 before Bowdoin pulled away for the 25-22 victory.
- Endicott's play at the net was evident in its ability to bring down Bowdoin's hitting percentage from well over .500 to begin the match to .257 (14K 5E 35TA) by set's end.
- McAvoy paced the Gulls offensively with five kills on seven swings (.714, set-high among all student-athletes with five or more swings).
- Bowdoin's block played a key factor in its first set victory as the Polar Bears compiled two solo stuffs and eight assisted blocks (five blocks total).
SET TWO
- After Endicott took an early 1-0 lead off an attack error, Bowdoin produced a 4-0 run via two kills and two Gulls' errors and rode that momentum the rest of the way to a 25-23 set victory despite another feverish comeback bid by the Gulls.
- The Polar Bears led by as many as eight (20-12, 19-11, 18-10, 17-9) prior to Endicott's comeback attempt that brought the Gulls within one (23-22) late in the match via a 10-3 run.
- Endicott's 10-3 run featured two kills from Quesnelle and one each via Gilbert and Winkler in addition to two aces and four Bowdoin errors.
- After the Polar Bears called a timeout at 23-22, Bowdoin used a pair of kills sandwiched around a putaway from Gilbert to take the set, 25-23.
SET THREE
- Tied at 5-5, Bowdoin used a 7-0 run to make it 12-5 and never relinquished the lead from there on out to clinch the eventual sweep of Endicott. Hodge-Adams guided the run with two kills, while Flaharty added one kill on top of four errors from the Gulls.
- Endicott did bring the set within three points at 15-12 before the Polar Bears answered with another large run (6-0) to jump out ahead 21-12 and thwart a potential comeback bid by the Gulls.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Tonight's match marked the first meeting between the two programs in NCAA Tournament play.
- Both teams came into tonight's match regionally ranked in the official NCAA Regional Rankings, with Bowdoin positioned sixth and Endicott seventh.
- The Gulls saw their eight-match winning streak come to a close.
- Bowdoin is 13-6 in the all-time series against Endicott.
- The Polar Bears have won eight straight matches against the Gulls.
- Kennedy went 20-for-21 on serve-receive, five of which correlated in kills.
WHAT'S NEXT
Bowdoin (19-7) will square off against the winner of the Tufts and Eastern Nazarene match on Saturday, November 16. Check out the entire 2019 NCAA bracket HERE.
Meanwhile, Endicott sees its 2019 season come to a close at 23-8 overall.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2019
- The Gulls won their third Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) championship in the last four years behind 3-0 victories against Salve Regina and Roger Williams in semifinals and finals, respectively.
- Gifford was named the CCC Player of the Year for the second straight season, while Kennedy earned CCC Libero of the Year accolades for the second consecutive season as well.
- Tim Byram claimed his fourth career CCC Coach of the Year award.
- Gifford, Kennedy, Quesnelle, Gilbert, McAvoy, and Nicole Winkler (Southborough, Mass.) received CCC All-Conference honors.
- The Gulls placed a program-record five student-athletes on the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Region Teams.
- Kennedy, Gifford, and McAvoy garnered New England Women's Volleyball Association (NEWVA) All-Region accolades.
- Kennedy earned College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District honors.
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(Photo Credit - Nick Grace '20)