BEVERLY, Mass.- Behind a dominant offensive performance for much of the night, the No. 3 seed Endicott women's volleyball team advanced to the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Semifinals with a 3-1 win over the No. 6 seed University of New England (UNE). With the win, Endicott improves to 22-9 while UNE ends its season at 6-17.
Endicott claimed the first two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-8 before dropping the third 25-22. The Gulls righted the ship quickly, taking an emphatic 25-7 set in the fourth to take the match 3-1.
CCC Player of the Year Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) led the Endicott attack with a match-high 15 kills as the outside hit .412 for the match after committing just one hitting error on 34 attempts. Fellow All-CCC outside honoree Lauren Sheehan (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) was right behind, finishing with 13 kills on 26 swings with four errors as she hit at a .346 clip while also picking up 14 digs which tied for the team-high.
Guiding the offense were setters Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.), who finished with 20 assists and 11 digs, good for her eighth double-double of the season, and Mareena Clotfelter (Poulsbo, Wash.) who finished with a match-high 25 assists and nine digs. The two setters teamed up to lead the offense to a .319 hitting percentage for the night as Endicott hit .361 (16-3-36), .500 (13-1-24) and .500 (13-1-24) in the three sets they won.
Equally as impressive for the Gulls was the defensive effort that saw the home team post 64 digs and 11 blocks in the win. Libero Cydney Pierce (Santa Barbara, Calif.) tied Sheehan for the team-high in digs with 14 while McIntyre and Hayley Knapp (Valencia, Calif.) finished with six assist blocks each as Endicott held UNE to a negative hitting percentage on the night at -.031.
BEYOND THE BOX
- With the win, Endicott has now at least advanced to the CCC Semifinal round for 15 straight seasons. The last time the CCC held a semifinal match without Endicott involved was back in 2000, head coach Tim Byram's first year at Endicott.
- Endicott is now 22-3 all-time against UNE, winning 22 of the last 23 matches between the two schools.
- Senior tri-captain Lexi Watts (San Diego, Calif.) continued her stretch of impressive play as she hit over .350 for the third consecutive match. The opposite picked up six kills while hitting .385 as she also finished with four assist blocks.
- Matching her block assist total was middle Kelli Sugrue (Tewksbury, Mass.) who also posted six kills in the win. Sugrue was dominant in the second set, hitting five kills on seven error-free attempts while also notching three assist blocks.
FOR THE FOES
- Leading the Nor'Easters in the loss was middle Grayson Szczepaniak (Lakewood, Ohio) who picked up a team-high eight kills. The junior also posted a team-best three total blocks on the night.
- Setter Kristen Falcinelli (Silver Spring, Md.) dished out 18 assists in the match while recording five digs and two kills.
- Emily Rumery (Wolfeboro, N.H.) finished with a team-high .136 average while registering six kills on 22 attempts.
- Leading the defensive effort was Brittany Morrison (Rosemount, Minn.) as the libero collected a match-high 18 digs to close out her freshman campaign.
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott, the No. 3 seed in the CCC Volleyball Tournament, travels down the road to No. 2 seed Gordon on Thursday night for their CCC Semifinal bout. Endicott will be looking to avenge a 3-1 loss in early October that snapped a string of eight straight Endicott wins. The winner will advance to take on the winner of the No. 1 Roger Williams vs. No. 4 Western New England match on Saturday. For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
