Women's Volleyball Earns No. 2 Seed in CNE Tournament

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Savannah Morford (10 kills) and Clairissa Taylor (nine kills) paced a balanced offensive attack as the Wentworth Institute of Technology women's volleyball team defeated the University of Hartford, 3-1, in Conference of New England play Saturday afternoon.

With the win the Leopards finish the regular season at 17-10 overall and 7-2 in CNE play. The Black & Gold locked up the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the upcoming CNE Tournament. Hartford sees its season end at 9-13 (3-6).

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Hartford jumped out to a 3-1 lead to open the first set before kills from Taylor and Emma Sanders knotted the score at 3-all. The set was tied three times before Helen Barthe put down a kill to make it 8-7 in favor of Wentworth. The Hawks opened a lead of 13-11 after a Leopard service error, however, an 8-2 Wentworth run gave the Black & Gold a 19-15 lead after a kill from Kate McLane. The Hawks ended the run with a kill but the Leopards finished the set with six straight points, winning 25-16.
• Featuring 11 ties and nine lead changes, the second set started with the Leopards taking a 10-5 lead. During the opening run, Olivia Vaughn served six straight aces. Wentworth took its largest lead of the set at 18-12 before the Hawks used an 8-1 run to take a 20-19 lead. A kill by Barthe and a Hartford attack error gave the Black & Gold the lead back at 21-20 before the Hawks eventually reclaimed the lead at 23-21. Sanders and Taylor teamed up for back-to-back blocks, tying the score at 23-all and the score was tied three more times before a Riley Schoonmaker block made it 27-26 in favor of Wentworth. However, the Hawks scored three straight points to win, 29-27, and even the match at a set apiece.
• Four straight points to open the third set, including kills from Taylor and Morford, gave Wentworth a 4-0 lead. The Leopards led, 7-3, before Hartford battled back to tie the set at 8-all. Building off of this, the hosts took a 13-11 lead before the Black & Gold took a 14-13 lead. The lead was increased to 18-14, thanks in part to back-t0-back aces from Vaughn. Hartford pulled within a point on three occasions, including at 23-22, however, a kill from Schoonmaker and an ace from Amada Zweifler closed out the set at 25-22.
• Hartford scored the first point of the first set but the Leopards quickly responded by using a 10-1 run to take a 10-2 lead. The Hawks crept back into the set, eventually capitalizing on three straight attack errors to close the gap to 23-21, and, after a Wentworth time out, served an ace to make it 23-22. However, back-to-back errors gave Wentworth a 25-22 win to clinch the match.
• Schoonmaker had eight kills and four blocks, Barthe added seven kills and six digs, Sanders had six kills and four blocks, Vaughn served 11 aces and had 45 assists, while Zweifler had 26 digs.

NOTEWORTHY:

• Vaughn set a program record for aces in a four-set match with 11.

THE SERIES:

• Today marked the second all-time meeting between the two teams. Wentworth has won both meetings.

NEXT UP:

• Wentworth will host a CNE Tournament Semifinal on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. The Leopards will square off against either third-seeded Roger Williams or sixth-seeded University of New England.

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