Nicole Doerges finished the match with 10 kills and 10 digs (Frank Poulin).
Nicole Doerges finished the match with 10 kills and 10 digs (Frank Poulin).

Wellesley Volleyball Sweeps Past Smith, 3-0

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Wellesley College volleyball improved to 5-0 in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play with a 3-0 (25-10, 25-18, 25-20) sweep of Smith College on Tuesday evening at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse. 

With the victory, the Blue are now 11-3 overall and have extended the team's home court winning streak to 20 consecutive games. Smith drops to 3-12 overall (0-4 NEWMAC). 

Wellesley junior Lauren Gedney (Huntersville, N.C.) and sophomore Nicole Doerges (San Marino, Calif.) combined for 21 kills to lead the Blue to victory. Gedney totaled 11 kills, while Doerges had 10 and finished the night with just one error on attack, while also adding 11 digs to finish with a double-double. Sophomore Izzy Seebold (Concord, N.C.) added 29 assists and two aces and senior Meghan Shoop (Cypress, Calif.) totaled 12 digs for the Blue

Junior Claire Cicchetti (Menlo Park, Calif.) had a team-high nine kills on 17 attempts (.412) for the Pioneers. First year Ava Zollinger (Orlando, Fla.) and junior Amy Hagan (Owings, Md.) each added five kills and first Year Evi Evgeniou (Thessaloniki, Greece) dished out 20 assists. On defense, first year Gabby Beckman (Aurora, Colo.) had 12 kills and senior Jody Huang (Cranston, R.I.) added a game-high 13 kills. 

Wellesley hit .360 with 10 kills to cruise to a 25-10 victory in the opening set. The Blue raced to leads of 10-3, 15-6 and 21-7 in a first set rout. A kill from Gedney made the score 24-9 before back-to-back service errors gave the Blue the win. The teams played to a 4-4 tie to start the second game before the Blue broke free with a 4-1 lead to take an 8-5 lead. Wellesley would lead for the remainder of the set, closing out the 25-18 final.

The Blue wrapped-up the sweep with a 25-20 third set victory. Gedney had five of Wellesley's 13 kills in the set as the Blue opened up a 15-8 lead before closing out the 25-20 final. Wellesley finished the match with a .232 attack percentage.

Wellesley and Smith will continue the NEWMAC season on Saturday, October 5. Wellesley will host Springfield for the teams annual Ovarian Cancer Awareness match at 1:00 PM and Smith will travel to Wheaton for a trimatch with the host Lyons (11:00 AM) and Roger Williams (1:00 PM).