WESTON, Mass. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology women's volleyball team concluded the 2014 campaign by splitting a pair of matches in a tri-match hosted by Regis College. Wentworth defeated Newbury, 3-1, before falling to the Pride, 3-0.
Wentworth concludes its season with a 14-14 record, marking the second straight season the Leopards have finished with a .500 or better record.
Against Newbury, the Black & Gold hit an impressive .333 in the opening set as junior Hannah Bailey (Plymouth, Mass.) had four kills on four swings, sophomore Stephanie Nihan (Dracut, Mass.) had a pair of kills, and sophomore Jordan Young (Derry, N.H.) had a pair of blocks in the 25-17 win.
The second set saw Wentworth take a 25-20 win with Young and Nihan recording two blocks apiece and senior Sam Curran (Quincy, Mass.) and sophomore Amanda Hunton (Monroe, N.Y.) each serving two aces. Senior Shannon Ponce (San Jose, Calif.) recorded her 13th assist of the match and became the program's all-time assist leader in the process.
Newbury stayed alive in the third set with a 25-21 win as the Nighthawks led from start to finish. Bailey had three kills, freshman Caroline Shea (Abington, Mass.) had two blocks, and Ponce and freshman Sydney Meyers (Arnold, Md.) had two kills each while Curran had five aces.
The fourth set saw three ties and two lead changes before the Leopards pulled away, clinching the match with a 25-22 win. Wentworth hit .433 in the set with Meyers (six kills on seven swings) and Bailey (five kills on eight swings) providing the most of the offense.
Bailey finished with 13 kills and hit .323 to lead the Leopards. Meyers (10 kills), Shea (five kills, three blocks), Ponce (five kills, 35 assists), and Young (four kills, four blocks) paced the offense. Curran had 10 digs and five aces while Hunton had 10 digs. Curran also broke the single season dig record, which she had set a season ago.
Against Regis, the Pride took the opening set by a 25-12 score as Wentworth had a negative attack percentage. Young had two kills and two blocks and Curran had five digs in the set.
The Leopards were forced into hitting for a negative percentage in the second set as well as the Pride took a 25-15 win. Four different players accounted for the four Leopard kills while Bailey and Nihan combined for a block and Curran had seven digs.
Regis closed out the match with a 25-21 win in the third set with Bailey and Nihan recording three kills each and Shea and graduate student Michelle Hobbs (Northwood, N.H.) adding two kills each. Curran and Hunton had five digs apiece.
Nihan and Bailey finished with four kills each, with Shea and Young recording three kills apiece. Young also had two blocks. Ponce had 16 assists and Curran had 17 digs in the loss.
Ponce concludes her career with 2,090 helpers which breaks the mark of 2,055 set by Courtney Zink '10. Curran, who owns the career dig record (1,414), finished the season with 427 digs; 23 better than her 2013 mark of 404.