BOSTON, Mass. – Freshman Claire Quick (Mission Viejo, Calif.) had nine kills without making an error on 19 swings and classmate Samantha Lassiter (Rogers, Ark.) hit .727 on nine kills (9-1-11) as the Wentworth Institute of Technology women's volleyball team swept Nichols, 3-0, in a Commonwealth Coast Conference match played at Tansey Gymnasium.
With the win the Leopards improve to 13-2 overall and 2-1 in league play while the Bison fall to 4-10 (0-3).
Wentworth led wire-to-wire in the opening set, jumping out to a 6-0 lead and never looking back in a 25-7 win. The Leopards hit .348 as a team with Quick recording five kills on nine swings without an error. Freshman J'ena Baker (Rockledge, Fla.) and senior Monica Pucko (Gardner, Mass.) had three kills apiece for Nichols in the set.
The Leopards took the lead for good in the second set, 7-6, off of a service error, which started an 8-0 run. Wentworth would extend its lead to 24-10 and take a 2-0 lead with a 25-11 win. Lassiter was a perfect 4-0-4 in the set with junior Caroline Shea (Abington, Mass.) adding three kills on five swings without an error. Baker had four kills for the Bison.
Lassiter paced the Black & Gold's attack in the third set with three kills as Wentworth completed the sweep with a 25-16 win. After falling behind 1-0, the Leopards scored the next five points and took a 5-1 lead after a Nichols ball handling error. The lead swelled to 17-9 before four straight Bison points made it a four-point set (17-13) as Baker had a pair of kills. However, the Leopards scored eight of the next 11 points to close out the match. Baker had four kills for Nichols.
Quick also served a pair of aces in the win while Shea added five kills for Wentworth and sophomore Abigail Ahern (Barrington, N.H.) chipped in with four. Freshman Katie Clouse (Hudson Falls, N.Y.) had 19 assists, three aces, and six digs. Junior Kayla Gendreau (Hudson, N.H.) had three blocks, freshman Maddy Tomastik (Portland, Ore.) had nine assists, and sophomore Lillie Clark (Vista, Calif.) had 10 digs and two aces.
Baker had nine kills for Nichols to go along with a pair of blocks. Pucko added four kills and freshman Megan Gardner South Gardner had nine assists.
Wentworth is at Roger Williams on Wednesday. Nichols is at Western New England, also on Wednesday.