Volleyball Sweeps WPI for Friends and Family

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Wellesley College volleyball team remained perfect in NEWMAC play, topping WPI, 3-0, on Saturday afternoon at Wellesley. The Blue improved to 15-2 overall (4-0), defeating the 5-9 (0-5) Engineers, with set scores of 25-16, 25-9, 25-23.

Wellesley had a fantastic offensive day, combining to hit .453 in the match, while making just six errors in front of a large crowd for Friends and Family Weekend. WPI hit .213 as a team, which included a .270 clip in the third and closest set of the day.

In the first set, Wellesley jumped out to a 10-5 lead, with three early kills from Sydney Carfagno. WPI battled back to tie it at 11-11 on a Sarah Cook kill, and after trading sideouts, the score remained tied at 14-14. From that point on, Wellesley owned the set, ending on an 11-1 scoring run included four serving aces from Kellyn O'Brady. A Carfagno kill was the final punctuation to the set, giving the Blue the 25-16 win. 

Set two remained close in the early going, with Wellesley holding on to a slim 7-5 lead after 12 points. Again, the hosts took over, hitting .571 as a team and holding WPI to .095 with just five kills in the set. O'Brady recorded six kills in the game, while WPI's Adrienne Weishaar and Maddy Werth recorded two each. 

In the third and final set, Wellesley held an early advantage, going up 14-9 on a Sierra Weingartner kill and then stretching the lead to 18-14 on a Menichella kill. Three straight kills from WPI, including two from Holly Ganser, brought the Engineers to within one, and then a Wellesley error allowed WPI to knot the set at 18-18. 

The Blue surged ahead, recording three straight points, including two aces from Traci Hamanaka to make it 21-18, but again WPI battled back. Three Ganser kills, a Cook kill and a Wellesley attack error put WPI in the driver's seat, serving at 23-21. The Blue, however, earned the next four points, including two kills from Fieldman, to steal the 25-23 win.

Ganser led the Engineers at the net with nine kills, while Maddy Werth added eight and Cook chipped in seven. Werth also led all players with 10 digs. Caroline Meyer captained the WPI offense with 19 assists while also tallying eight digs.

Carfagno and Fieldman led the Blue with nine kills each while hitting .900 and .600, respectively. O'Brady hammered six kills, hitting at a .500 clip, and Megan Mills added four more. The Blue were also solid from the service line as O'Brady recorded four aces and Ayers added three. Hilary Ayers and Maddie Koh combined for 31 assists for the win.

Both squads return to action to action on Tuesday, October 1, at 7pm, when Wellesley travels to Mount Holyoke for a NEWMAC match-up and WPI travels to Simmons for a non-conference game.