Volleyball Stopped by Engineers 3-0 on Tuesday Night

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Senior Nicole Doerges (San Marino, Calif.) led tallied a game high 22 kills, but the Wellesley College volleyball team dropped its sixth straight match in a 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-19), in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Tuesday afternoon at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse.

The Blue now stand at 1-6 overall and 0-3 in NEWMAC after the loss. MIT continues its dominant start to the year, improving to 12-0 overall and 3-0 in conference play.

Junior TylerBell Smith (Frisco, Texas) and Kate Salembier (Sierra Madre, Calif.) eached totaled six kills for Wellesley. Both players were solid on the defensive end as well, with Salembier adding 10 digs and Smith blocking two attacks for MIT. Setter Izzy Seebold (Concord, N.C.) effectively set up her attackers, totaling a game high 30 assists which brings her to 199 for the season. Sophomore Kara Jenkins (Indianapolis, Ind.) made the start and finished with a team high three service aces.

For the Engineers, outside hitter Lilly Edwards (Kansas City, Mo.) set the pace with a team high 13 kills on 32 attempts. Behind her was first year Ella Gragg (Morganton, N.C.) with seven kills and four digs. On the defensive end, first year Ottavia Personeni (Bethesda, Md.) had a match high 22 digs. 

The Blue came out of the gate scorching hot and jumping out to an 11-5 lead. Doerges recorded a kill on four of the team's first 11 points. MIT bounced back, using a 7-1 run to make the match all square at 12-12. The squads fought back and forth and forced the set into extra points, but MIT eventually came away 26-24. 

The second set was once again a very back and forth affair, with neither team scoring more than two points in a row for the first 31 points scored. Wellesley had a 20-18 lead, when the Engineers rallied to take four of the next five points and a 24-20 advantage. The Blue scored a couple in a row, but were ultimately downed 25-22 in set two. MIT continued to attack in the third set, while Wellesley ran out of gas. After holding a 16-15 lead, MIT found another gear and closed out the final set by a score of 25-19.

Wellesley will head out of conference and look to get back on track in a match at Keene State on Saturday, September 25, at 3:00 PM. MIT will continue with another NEWMAC opponent, as the Engineers visit WPI on Saturday, September 25, at noon.