WALTHAM, Mass. – The Endicott women's volleyball team split a pair of matches on the opening day of the 2016 campaign, falling to Johnson & Wales (R.I.) 3-0 before taking down Rhode Island College 3-1 on Friday evening. The Gulls return to action Saturday morning to take on the University of Southern Maine and Smith at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. respectively in day two action of the Brandeis Invitational.

MATCH ONE – JWU 3 Endicott 0 (27-25, 25-16, 25-21)

Endicott struggled offensively in the first match of 2016, hitting .100 against Johnson & Wales (JWU) with 21 kills and 13 errors on 18 attempts while JWU was able to hit .355 to take the match. Endicott's defense kept the match close, out-digging the opposition 36 to 26, but the Gulls could not overcome the hot offense of the Wildcats as the foes registered three players with double-digit kills.

BEYOND THE BOX

• The Gulls were led by 2015 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Player of the Year and AVCA All-America Honorable Mention Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) who notched four kills with one error on 24 swings to go along with seven digs. 
• Lauren Sheehan (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) picked up a team-high five kills and three digs.
• Sophomore middle Emily Diezemann (Peabody, Mass.) was nearly perfect, collecting four kills on five attempts to hit a team-best .800 on the evening.
• Setter Mareena Clotfelter (Poulsbo, Wash.) chipped in a team best 13 assists to accompany six digs while teammate Erika Trudon (Coventry, Conn.) registered a match-high 13 digs.

FOR THE FOES

• The Wildcats were led by Maria Coniglio (Old Bethpage, N.Y.) and Kate Walker (Oakland, Calif.) as the duo tied for a match-best 12 kills.
• Emily Kalmink (Byron Center, Mich.) was close behind, picking up 11 kills on 17 swings to start her collegiate career.
• Gianna Esposito (Larkspur, Calif.) anchored the defense with nine digs in the match.

MATCH TWO – Endicott 3 RIC 1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-14)

The Gulls flipped the script in the second match of the Invitational, hitting an impressive .268 (52-18-127) to finish the night. The Gulls and Anchormen split two close sets to begin the match before Endicott earned a five point set win in the third and continued that momentum into the fourth, winning easily, 25-14.

BEYOND THE BOX

• Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) was error-free in the second match, notching 12 kills on 29 attempts to hit .414 for the match while also serving up a team-best six aces and digging six Anchormen attacks.
• Sophomore Emma Mancini (Lynnfield, Mass.) logged a team-best 13 kills on the pin to hit .258 for the match (13-5-31).
• Middle Emily Diezemann (Peabody, Mass.) hit a team-high .571 (5-1-7) to go with three assist blocks in the night cap.
• Setters Mareena Clotfelter (Poulsbo, Wash.) and Zoey Gifford (Natick, Mass.) guided the offense with a combined 44 assists on the night. Clotfelter led the Gulls with 28 assists to go with eight digs while Gifford, a freshman, registered 16 assists and five digs.

FOR THE FOES

• At the time of the release, RIC's statistics were not available. Please check back later this weekend for this portion of the recap.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott returns to action early Saturday morning when they take on the Huskies of the University of Southern Maine at 10:00 a.m. before taking on Smith in the fourth and final match of the Brandeis Invitational at a match time that is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m.

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