Springfield, Mass. – September 30, 2008 – The Springfield College women’s volleyball team hammered out 46 kills, while hitting .359 as a team on Tuesday night as it cruised past visiting Clark in three games in New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action.
Springfield won by the scores by 25-8, 25-17, 25-13.
With the win, Springfield improves to 14-2, 4-0 in league play, while the Cougars drop to 4-8, 1-3.
Head coach Joel Dearing really mixed up the line ups in the match as 14 different members of the squad saw game action against the Cougars.
Springfield wasted no time jumping out to an early 14-6 lead in the first game after a kill from Sarah Lang-Rodean (Mansfield, Conn.). After a sideout by the Cougars, Springfield rattled off a 7-0 run fueled by four Lang-Rodean kills to take control of the opening stanza. Lang-Rodean finished with seven kills alone in the first game, hitting .875 as Springfield racked up 16 kills as a team, hitting .538.
In the second game, the Pride led by as many as 10 after a Heather Lively (Royalston, Mass.) kill forced a Clark timeout at 16-6. The Cougars would not back down though, cutting the lead to six at 23-17, but the Pride held on for the two-game advantage.
In the third and final game, it was a back-and-forth start as the teams were tied at six-all. However, Bethany Stosz (Amherst, Mass.) led a Springfield 6-0 run from the service line to force a Clark timeout. Lively caught fire towards the end of the match as she had a pair of outstanding kills and two solo blocks which brought the crowd to its feet.
Lively finished with 14 kills, hitting .448, en route to a team-best 16 points on the evening. Lang-Rodean chipped in with 11 kills, while Stosz seven eight kills at a .500 clip to go along with three blocks. Heidi Yohe (Deer Park, Wash.) had a match-high 10 digs, while Kelsea Hellyar (Fairhaven, Mass.) handed out 39 assists in the victory.
Martiza Fair had five kills as did Amira Tranchell in the loss for Clark, which was held to a -.024 hitting percentage in the match.
The Pride return to action on Friday evening when it heads west for the Nazareth Invitational in Rochester, N.Y.
