NEWTON, Mass. – The Lasell College women's volleyball team earned a three set victory against Wentworth Institute in a match that was nip and tuck throughout. The Lasers pulled out the match by scores of 25-22, 27-25 and 25-22 to improve to 3-2 on the season. The visiting Leopards fell to 2-2 with the loss.
Abigail Rollins (N. Caldwell, N.J.) paced the Lasell attack with 11 kills and added nine digs and Sharisse Scott-Rawlins (Brockton, Mass.) added nine kills on the night. Alyssa Nahigian (Coventry, R.I.) notched a match-high 23 assists and tallied four service aces for the Lasers.
Wentworth was led by Hannah Bailey (Plymouth, Mass.) and Amanda Hunton (Monroe, N.Y.) with eight kills apiece and Jordan Young (Derry, N.H.) and Stephanie Nihan (Dracut, Mass.) chipped in six and five kills, respectively. Libero Sam Curran (Quincy, Mass.) turned in an excellent defensive effort for the Leopards posting a match-high and program single-match record (for three sets) 33 digs on the night, and Shannon Ponce (San Jose, Calif.) handed out 19 assists.
Wentworth opened up an early lead, going in front 4-1 and 7-4 before the hosts came back to tie the set at 7-7. Lasell never trailed, but the set was tied another seven times before they pulled ahead 21-20 lead en-route to a 25-22 victory.
Lasell opened the second set with a 5-1 advantage before Wentworth came right back tying the match at 5-5. Wentworth pulled in front 18-14, only to watch Lasell battle back to tie the match at 18. The Leopards then ran off three straight points to go in front 21-18 before Lasell responded with a run of their own to go ahead 24-22. The visitors would not go quietly, fighting off a pair of set points and taking a 25-24 lead, but Lasell answered with the final three points of the match to win 27-24.
The Lasers fed off the momentum as they raced to an early lead in the third set, going on top 16-8 before Wentworth came alive again. The visitors slowly clawed their way back, getting within a point of Lasell at 23-22 but were unable to finish the comeback, falling 25-22.
Lasell will be back in action on Tuesday September 10 when they host Salve Regina at 7:00 p.m. and Wentworth will host a tri-match with Mount Ida and Daniel Webster beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday September 7.
(Recap Courtesy of Lasell Sports Information)