LEICESTER, Mass. – Junior Hannah Bailey (Plymouth, Mass.) recorded 24 kills and had 21 digs, sophomore Jordan Young (Derry, N.H.) had 12 kills and didn't make an attack error, and senior Sam Curran (Quincy, Mass.) served 13 aces and had 38 digs as the Wentworth Institute of Technology women's volleyball team swept a tri-match played at Becker College. The Leopards defeated Elms, 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-16) before defeating the host Hawks by an identical 3-0 score (25-17, 25-13, 25-17).
Against Elms the Leopards hit a match-high .517 in the opening set, making just one error on 29 swings. While in the second set Wentworth would hit just .040, the Leopards forced the Blazers into hitting -.135.
In the third set Wentworth had an early 5-3 lead, however the lead was erased when Elms served five straight aces to take an 8-5 lead. A freshman Sydney Meyers (Arnold, Md.) kill stopped the run and began a 14-3 Leopard run, which would put the match away. The Leopards would hit .417 in the third set.
Meyers hit .318 for the match as she recorded 10 kills. Bailey had nine kills, hit .389, and recorded eight digs while Young had six kills with zero errors on 18 swings. Freshman Kayla Gendreau (Hudson, N.H.) had a pair of blocks, Curran served seven aces and had 12 digs, and senior Shannon Ponce (San Jose, Calif.) set 27 assists. As a team the Black & Gold hit .333 and held the Blazers to a .000 attack percentage.
Wentworth's momentum carried over to the opening set of the Becker match as the Leopards hit .423 and earased and early, 4-0 deficit. Wentworth would lead by a 10-8 score after a Hawk ace before five straight points gave the Black & Gold a 15-8 lead. Becker made a run of its own to make it 18-14, however Wentworth would score seven of the final 10 points to take the first set.
The Leopards held a 10-5 lead in the second set before the Hawks countered with four straight points to make it a one-point margin. Curran served a pair of aces during the four points she was on the line for to extend a 14-11 lead to 18-11 and the set would end on four straight Leopard points, which included kills from Bailey and Gendreau.
In the third set Becker erased a 5-1 deficit and held a lead of 12-9 before a 6-2 Leopard run gave Wentworth the lead for good at 15-14. Leading 19-16, the Leopards closed out the match by scoring six of the final seven points, closing out the match on a Bailey kill.
Bailey hit .545 in the match as she had 15 kills to go along with 13 digs. Sophomore Stephanie Nihan (Dracut, Mass.) had eight kills while freshman Caroline Shea (Abington, Mass.) and Young had six kills apiece. Young finished the day hitting 12-0-29. Curran served six aces and recorded 26 digs while Ponce had 35 assists.
With the two wins the Leopards improve to 12-9 and are at Mass. Maritime on Thursday night.
Elms
Becker