Springfield, Mass. – October 29, 2009 – Despite an 11 kill, eight block, four ace performance by Sarah Lang-Rodean, the Springfield College women’s volleyball team dropped the final three games of the match en route to falling to visiting Wellesley College, 3-2, on Thursday evening in New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play.
The loss drops Springfield to 25-6, 6-2 in league play, while the Blue improve to 19-9, 6-2 in conference action.
Wellesley won the match by the scores of 20-25, 23-25, 25-12, 25-20, 15-11. This marks the second time that Wellesley has bested Springfield in the past six days as the Blue previously toppled the Pride in four games last Saturday at the Volleyball Hall of Fame Invitational.
Springfield had its worst hitting performance of the season as it hit just .071. Springfield’s only other match that it hit below .100 this season was its only other conference loss, at MIT on September 22, when it hit .099.
Other than Lang-Rodean, Lauren Torvi was the only other member of the Pride with double digit kills as she finished with 13 to go along with two blocks. Heather Lively totaled nine kills, while Kelsea Hellyar registered a double-double with 31 assists and 14 digs. Itza Nieves chipped in with 10 digs and Kim Giaquinto added four blocks.
For the Blue, Alice Cummings was tremendous as she totaled match-highs in kills and digs, finishing with 21 and 16, respectively. Taylor King added 13 kills, while Isabel Custodio stuffed the stat sheet with 33 assists, seven kills, and five digs. Vivian Hu played four games as Wellesley’s libero and recorded 13 digs.
In the opening game, Springfield used a late push to snag the first set. With the score 20-19 in favor of Springfield, the Pride used a trio of kills from Lang-Rodean to fuel a 5-1 run that proved to be the difference.
Another late run gave Springfield a 2-0 advantage as its block snuffed out the Wellesley attack down the stretch. With the Blue leading 22-20, Springfield went on 5-1 run that was much in part to two solo blocks by Torvi and Lang-Rodean. The final point in the game came off a double-block by Lang-Rodean and Giaquinto as the Pride won 25-23.
Wellesley jumped all over the Pride in the third as it opened a quick 9-1 lead. Springfield’s offense totaled just three kills in the frame, compared to 12 by the visitors as it fell, 25-12. Wellesley led by as much as 15 in the stanza and it grabbed the momentum in the match heading into the fourth.
The Blue led nearly the entire fourth game as it evened the match at two. Cummings totaled four kills on six errorless swings to go along with four digs to pace the Blue in the stanza. A Cassie Seymour kill brought Springfield within three at 23-20, but a Cummings kill and an error by Hellyar knotted the match at two.
In the fifth, Wellesley raced out to a 4-0 advantage and never looked back as it went on to complete its rally. After leading at the turn, 8-5, Wellesley found themselves only up two at 13-11 after a Torvi kill. However, the visitors took care of the match as Allison Li and King recorded back-to-back kills for the win.
Springfield looks to regroup as it closes out its regular season on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Connecticut for a crucial match against Coast Guard.
