BIDDEFORD, Maine – Sophomore Grayson Szczepaniak (Lakewood, Ohio) tallied five of her match-high 10 kills in the opening set as the University of New England women's volleyball team topped Wentworth Institute of Technology by a score of 3-0 on Wednesday evening in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) match at the Harold Alfond Forum. Set scores were 25-23, 25-15, and 25-14.
The victory was the fifth in-a-row for the Nor'easters (11-12, 4-1 CCC), while the Leopards dropped their second straight to stand at 13-11 (2-4 CCC.
Szczepaniak added to her .600 hitting performance on the night by notching three solo blocks and a pair of aces for 15.5 points. Freshman Courtney Lambrese (Cranston, R.I.) chipped in with 11.5 points, on five kills, three aces, and three solo blocks. Senior Leah Janelle (Madbury, N.H.) finished with nine kills (four in the third set), while freshman Brooke Gibbons (Miami, Fla.) posted 23 assists and a team-best 10 digs. Sophomore Nikki Mathewson (Merrimack, N.H.) registered eight digs.
For Wentworth, freshman Sydney Meyers (Arnold, Md.) ended with seven kills, and senior Shannon Ponce (San Jose, Calif.) totaled 15 assists and became the second player in program history to eclipse the 2,000 career assist mark. Ponce now has 2,014 helpers for her career and needs 42 to become the program's all-time leader. Defensively, junior Hannah Bailey (Plymouth, Mass.) led all players with 13 digs and senior Sam Curran (Quincy, Mass.) contributed eight more.
The initial frame featured 15 ties and eight lead-changes, with the biggest advantage going to UNE at 13-9. The Leopards promptly responded with five unanswered points to make things close again, but a block from Lambrese and kill by Janelle at 23-all gave the edge to the hosts.
The Nor'easters built an 8-2 cushion early in the 2nd, before seeing it reduced to two (8-6). A five-point run of errors against Wentworth pushed the gap up to seven (13-6), and UNE never looked back.
UNE led for all but a tie at 2-2 in the 3rd, and once a 5-0 spurt extended the margin to 9-3, the Leopards could not get any closer than three (11-8) the rest of the way.
Both sides continue CCC play this weekend against the two remaining unbeatens in the league. Wentworth hosts Western New England University (5-0 CCC) on Saturday (1 p.m.), while UNE travels to face Roger Williams University (6-0 CCC) on Sunday (2 p.m.).
