CCC SEMIFINALS: No. 1 Endicott Sweeps No. 5 Salve Regina to Advance to CCC Championship

BEVERLY, Mass. - The top-seeded Endicott women's volleyball team swept the fifth-seeded Seahawks of Salve Regina in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) semifinals on Thursday night to advance to the CCC championship on Saturday at 1 PM against Roger Williams. The Gulls won by set scores of 25-16, 25-13, 25-16 to improve to 20-8 on the season while Salve Regina closes their season at 17-10.

The Endicott offense was dominant throughout, hitting .416 for the match, which included hitting a match-high .448 in the second. Leading that charge once again was senior Amanda Gilbert (Hopkinton, Mass.), who finished with the match-high in multiple categories including points (19.5), kills (15), blocks (3) and aces (3). The outside hit .583 for the match as her 15 kills came on 24 attempts with just one hitting error, while she also chipping in on the defensive end with six digs.

Fellow senior Colleen McAvoy (Coventry, Conn.) finished with a match-best .727 hitting percentage after posting eight kills on 11 error-free swings to go with three blocks and three digs. Graduate student Nicole Winkler (Southborough, Mass.) was also error-free from the middle, finishing with a 3-0-5 (.600) line for the match.

Lauren McGrath (Franklin, Mass.) and Amelia Beigel (Amherst, Mass.) led the Gulls to the .416 average as the duo posted 18 and 16 assists, respectively, while McGrath finished with six digs, and Beigel with eight. Riley Donahue (South Windsor, Conn.) posted seven kills (7-1-22, .273), two aces and five digs while Krystina Schueler (Trumbull, Conn.) finished with six kills in the sweep.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Emma Ruel (Duxbury, Mass.) led the Gulls with 11 digs, the 11th time the freshman has posted a double-digit dig total this season.
• Endicott is now 25-4 all-time against Salve Regina in the series that dates back to 2002. The Gulls have won the last four straight playoff matches between the two programs.
• The Gulls serving pressure of eight aces to just four errors and the defensive efforts helped to hold the Seahawks to a .167 average on the night.
• The win sets up an Endicott vs. Roger Williams final for the seventh time in history. The two programs have split the previous six meetings 3-3 while Endicott has won the most recent.

WHAT'S NEXT

Top-seeded Endicott (20-8) will play host to second-seeded Roger Williams (11-10) on Saturday in the CCC Championship at 1 PM. 

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(Photo Credit - David Le '10)