Wheaton Hands Wellesley Volleyball 3-0 Setback

NORTON, Mass. - First year Sydney Lyon (Weston, Conn.) earned 14 kills as Wheaton defeated Wellesley College volleyball 3-0, (25-13, 25-19, 25-21), on Wednesday at Emerson Gymnasium.

In addition to Lyon, junior Annah Shaheen (Portsmouth, N.H.) secured 13 kills and senior Sophie Wilhelm (Saunderstown, R.I.) picked up nine digs for the Lyons (8-7 Overall, 2-3 NEWMAC). Junior Kate Salembier (Sierra Madre, Calif.) led the Blue (5-10 Overall, 0-6 NEWMAC) with nine kills. First year Kennedy Mayo (Long Branch, N.J.) added seven kills of her own while classmate Kaija Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) had 10 digs. This was Kunze-Hoeg's 13th game this season with double-digit digs.

Wheaton went to work early with three straight kills by Shaheen running the Lyons' first set lead to 9-4. A 6-0 run would later make it 20-8 in favor of Wheaton with multiple kills by Lyon and two service aces from Wilhelm. Wheaton closed out a 25-13 set with 12 kills and a .526 hitting percentage.

The second set began with another trio of Shaheen kills making it 9-5 in favor of Wheaton. The Lyons ran the score up to 22-11 before Wellesley made a late push. Utilizing kills from Salembier, Mayo, and sophomore Rachel Xu (Beijing, China) the Blue won eight of the next 10 points to cut the lead to 24-19. Despite the run, Wheaton took the second set 25-19 when senior Emily Hickey (Kennebunk, Maine) delivered a kill for the Lyons.

The third set saw competitve play throughout with the scored tied as late as 20-20. Salembier had a trio of kills for the Blue while Lyon, Shaheen, and Hickey ran the offense for Wheaton. The Lyons won five of the final six points of the match, with a kill from senior Bailey Madrzyk (Barrington, Ill.) closing out a 25-21 set for Wheaton.

The Blue host a non-conference game against Westfield State on Saturday at 2:00 PM. The Lyons return to action at Gordon College on Thursday at 7:00 PM.