BEVERLY, Mass. - The second-seeded Endicott women's volleyball team hosted seventh-seeded Nichols in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) quarterfinals on Tuesday night and pulled out a 3-0 sweep to advance to the semifinal round on Thursday night. With the win, Endicott improves to 20-8 on the season while Nichols sees its season come to a close at 15-11.
The Gulls won by set scores 25-17, 25-22, and 25-22. Leading the charge offensively was Amanda Gilbert (West Falmouth, Mass.) who finished with 14 kills on 32 error-free attempts to go with nine digs. Fellow graduate Colleen McAvoy (Coventry, Conn.) posted 11 kills on 16 attempts to go with a team-leading three aces.
Defensively, Emma Ruel (Duxbury, Mass.) anchored the back row that held the Bison to a .173 average with her 14 digs. Setter Lauren McGrath (Franklin, Mass.) posted a season-high 29 assists as the Gulls finished hitting .301 for the match (41-10-103).
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Setter Amelia Beigel (Amherst, Mass.) finished with nine assists, five digs and an ace in the sweep.
- Endicott is now 7-0 all-time against Nichols. This was the first meeting between the two programs in the postseason.
- McAvoy led the match with her .500 average, while Gilbert and Sophie Breitenbach (Newport, R.I.) tied for second on the team with their .438 averages. Breitenbach finished with eight kills and one error on 16 attempts to go with two blocks.
- The Gulls have now advanced to the CCC semifinals for 22 straight seasons, a streak that started during the 2001 season.
WHAT'S NEXT
No. 7 Endicott (20-8) advances to the semifinals and play host to No. 6 Western New England (17-12) on Thursday night. No. 6 WNE advanced to the semifinals after upsetting No. 3 Wentworth 3-2 in their quarterfinal match.
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(Photo Credit - Ryan Atkins '23)
