Blue Volleyball Extends Win Streak To Ten With 3-1 Win At UMass Boston

BOSTON, Mass. – Tied at one set apiece with host UMass Boston, Wellesley College volleyball's offense came to life in the third and fourth sets, hitting a combined .458 to lift the Blue to a 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-19, 25-14) non-conference victory on Friday night at the Clark Athletic Center.

Wellesley extends the team's win streak to 10 matches and is now 12-3 overall. UMass Boston is now 7-11 in 2017.

Wellesley first year Lauren Gedney (Huntersville, N.C.) finished with a match-high 21 kills and now has at least 20 kills in three-straight matches. Junior Yasmine Reece (New Rochelle, N.Y.) finished with nine kills and first year Darina Postupaka (Tinley Park, Ill.) added eight for the Blue, who also got seven kills apiece from junior Samantha Ostenso (Hopkins, Minn.) and first year Nikki Jensen (Castro Valley, Calif.). Setter Michelle Li paced the balanced Blue attack with 46 assists. Libero Samantha Hoang (Elk Grove, Calif.) finished with a match-high 15 digs.

Senior Alex Gibbs (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) led the way for the Beacons, finishing with a double-double of 10 kills and 10 assists. Junior Eileen Shi (San Francisco, Calif.) recorded a team-high with 12 kills, while sophomore Emilia Czapiewska (Saint Paul, Minn.) chipped in with 11 kills. Juniors Rachel Maslach (Berlin Center, Ohio) and Christina Elliott (Camas, Wash.) split the setting duties, finishing with 26 and 15 assists, respectively. Senior Macayla Chianco (Clearwater, Fla.) added a team-best 13 digs in the setback.

Wellesley rallied from an early deficit to earn a 25-23 win in a tightly contested first set. Trailing 6-1, the Blue stormed back to tie the match, 7-7, on a kill from Gedney. After a kill from Ostenso made the score 8-7, Wellesley went on to lead for the rest of the set to take the 25-23 win. The Beacons rallied in the second set, tying the match with a 25-22 victory, as they broke a 16-all tie with five-straight points to move away from the Blue, 21-16, en route to the win.

Tied at 14-14 in the third set, a 5-0 run from the Blue made all the difference as Wellesley jumped to a 19-14 lead on a kill from Gedney. A kill from Reece later closed out the set, 25-19. Wellesley finished the match with a dominating fourth set performance, as the offense hit on all cylinders, registering 14 kills with just one error to hit .542 in a 25-14 win that was capped with a kill from Postupaka.

Wellesley returns to their New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) schedule with a 7:00 PM match on Tuesday, October 10, at Coast Guard. UMass Boston will host Plymouth State on Wednesday, October 11, at 6:00 PM.