Posted: Oct 06, 2011
BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women’s volleyball team played their fourth nationally ranked opponent of the season on Thursday night, as the \#17 UMass Boston Beacons defeated the Gulls 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-15) at MacDonald Gymnasium.
Endicott (9-10) had their four-match win-streak snapped with the loss and will move on to play CCC cross town rival Gordon on Tuesday, October 11th at 7:00 pm in Wenham. UMass Boston (15-2), after recording their 15th straight victory, will host RIT tomorrow at 6:00 pm.
The Beacons saw three of their players reach the double digit kill plateau as the entire team registered a .323 hit percentage against Endicott. Junior outside hitter Shannon Thompson (Moorpark, Calif.) led all players with 16 kills to just four errors while sophomore Corinne Porter (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and senior Molly Rattigan (Dorchester, Mass.) added 12 and 11 kills, respectively.
Setting for the UMass Boston attack was senior Cassy Hanneman (Denver, Colo.) who dished out 38 assists. Hanneman also had six digs and two aces in the match.
Endicott was paced offensively by junior outside hitter Falyn Torelli (Pelham, N.Y.) who had eight kills with just two errors on the day. Senior Elyse Barbour (Greenville, R.I.) and freshman Alexandra Gearin (Los Angeles, Calif.) each added five kills in the loss.
The Gulls defense was anchored by libero Ashley Norley (Sudbury, Mass.) who had nine digs but setter Sarah Allshouse (Berthoud, Colo.) actually led the team with 10 digs while recording 20 assists. UMass Boston’s libero Kayla Wilson (San Jose, Calif.) led all players with 12 digs.
In the first set, Endicott developed a lead as large as four points at 16-12 but the Beacons chipped away. After a Gulls point on an Elyse Barbour kill made it 18-16 in Endicott’s favor, UMass Boston proceeded to rattle off six straight points to shift the set’s momentum. The Beacons would allow only two more Endicott points on service errors as they won set one 25-20.
Sets two and three were played differently with UMass Boston garnering significant advantages near the middle of each set en route to convincing set wins of 25-15 in each. During their 15-match win-streak, the Beacons have only lost six sets compared to 45 set wins.
