Blue Volleyball Opens Season 2-0; Wellesley Tops Endicott, Keene State

BEVERLEY, Mass. -- The Wellesley College volleyball team opened the 2013 season with two victories at Endicott's tri-match on Saturday evening. The Blue opened play with a 3-1 victory over Keene State (25-11, 22-25, 25-23, 25-22) and then defeated the host Gulls 3-1 (15-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-18) in the day's final match.

Wellesley starts the season 2-0, Keene State moves to 1-1 as the Owls topped Endicott in their meeting, while the Gulls start 0-2.

Against Keene State, Wellesley jumped out to an early 1-0 advantage with an easy 25-11 victory in set one. The Blue quickly built a 15-5 lead, before closing out the set with a kill from Megan Mills. Set two was much closer, with Wellesley holding a 12-9 lead halfway through action. The Blue gained momentum to go up by eight, at 19-11 after a Keene attack error, but the Owls battled back to within two after a Christine Hadfield ace made it 22-20. Wellesley then sealed the second set with kills from Sydney Carfagno and Sierra Weingartner, to take the 25-22 victory.

Wellesley dropped the third set in a back and forth affair that saw the teams tied as late as 18-18. Keene State was able to take advantage of several Wellesley errors down the stretch, as the Owls outscored Wellesley 7-5 without a single kill, closing out the match with a 25-23 victory. In the final set, Wellesley battled back from an early seven point deficit (10-3) before chipping away and final knotting the game at 19-19 on a Keene attack error. The Blue then closed out the match by outscoring the Owls 6-3 over the final nine points.

Kellyn O'Brady and Carfagno each recorded double-doubles in the match, with O'Brady racking up 10 kills and 12 digs with six aces, while Carfagno tallied 10 kills and 11 digs with two blocks. Caitlin Laughlin also added a 10-kill performance with three blocks, while Alixandra Binney and Mills each recorded six kills, while combining for just one error. 

Traci Hamanaka had a match-high of 19 digs, while also recording two aces. Hilary Ayers (19) and Maddie Koh (24) split the setting duties, combining for 43 assists. Ayers also added nine digs in the win.

For Keene State, Angela Silveri tallied 10 kills, while Madeline Nossif added six kills and four blocks. Alexis Michal and Sammy Dormio picked up 10 digs each with Michal adding a team-high 15 assists.

Against Endicott, Wellesley had early troubles with a rowdy crowd backing the hosts. The Blue dropped the first set, but battled back to take three in a row to earn the victory.

In the first set, Endicott jumped out to an early 10-5 lead and never looked back. Mackenzie Guerre led the Gulls' offense, recording five kills in the set, including the final point for a 25-15 set win. Wellesley turned the tide on Endicott in the second set, gaining the early momentum in the match. The Blue jumped out to an 11-4 lead on a Carfagno kill. Endicott would get as close as 22-19 on a Callie Dolan kill, but Wellesley held on for the 25-21 win.

In set three, Wellesley again jumped out to an early lead, as a Carfagno ace made it 11-3 Blue. Endicott came charging back, however, using six Wellesley attack errors to tie the set at 12-12. Wellesley righted the ship, backed by five kills from Courtney Lang over the final 13 points, taking the set 26-24. The Blue then closed out the match victory with a 25-18 victory in set four. With the set knotted at 12-12, Wellesley outscored Endicott 13-6, highlighted by three straight Lang kills to earn the win.

Four players recorded double-digit kill totals for the Blue, highlighted by a second double-double from Carfagno. The junior recorded 12 kills and 13 digs, while adding two blocks and two aces. Laughlin also picked up 12 kills, while Mills and Lang recorded 10 each.

Hamanaka dug a match-high 18 balls, while Binney added a team-high of three blocks. Koh rounded out the stat sheet by tallying 47 assists in the match.

For Endicott, Dolan and Guerre recorded 11 kills each, while Lexi Watts added eight. Alleigh VandeMerkt picked up 36 assists in the match, while Lilly Benabou recorded a team-high nine digs.

Wellesley is back in action on Friday, beginning play in the two-day Brandeis Invitational. The Blue will open with the host Judges on Friday at 8:00pm, before playing RIC and Tufts on Saturday.