Box Score Springfield, Mass. - September 23, 2014 - The Springfield College women's volleyball team suffered a five-set loss to Babson College on Tuesday evening in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action in Blake Arena.
Babson, winners of their last six matches, improves to 11-5 and remains in first place in the league with a 3-0 mark. The Pride, playing in their fourth five-set match in their last five outings, drops to 7-4, 1-2 in league play.
Francesca Mack (Amston, Conn.) led Springfield with 14 kills, while Elise Brogan (Andover, Mass.) tallied nine kills at a .471 clip to go along with a team-best five blocks. Meghan Kinee (Williamstown, N.J.) notched 15 digs, while Marnae Mawdsley (Bolton, Conn.) led the offense with 40 assists while chipping in 13 digs.
For the Beavers, Mary Donahue (Braintree, Mass.) led all players with 16 kills, while Kseniya Pulido (Upland, Calif.) anchored a defensive unit with 26 digs. Alana Atchison (Pembroke, Mass.) produced six blocks, and Krissy Roberston (Dedham, Mass.) filled her stat sheet with 37 assists, 13 digs, five blocks, and four kills.
Springfield evened things at 10-all in the first set as
Amanda Palladino (Cheshire, Conn.) and
Kelsey McGayhey (Shelter Island, N.Y.) combined for a block. After Babson regained a 20-18 lead on a Lorraine Mackiewicz (Edison, N.J.) kill, the Pride rattled off three points, capped off by a thunderous solo stuff from
Lauren Holt (Granby, Conn.) to force Babson into a timeout. The Pride pushed its lead to 23-21, but the Beavers answered right back, knotting things at 23 after a block by Robertson and Atchison made the Pride burn its final timeout of the set. The Beavers continued their rally, with Alicia Wilde (Franklin, Mass.) tipping around the Springfield block for set point before Jenny Karnes' (Houston, Texas) serve clipped the tape for a 25-23 first set win.
Trailing 10-8 in the second, Springfield reeled off three consecutive points, with a Mawdsley ace giving the hosts an 11-10 cushion. However, as they would all night, Babson stormed back, scoring five unanswered points, with Donahue providing a kill and an ace to give them a 15-11 lead. Springfield responded with a run of their own behind the play of Mack and McGayhey, scoring four-straight points to even things at 15. Mack would later hammer a ball down line for 22-20 lead, and after Babson evened things at 22 on another Atchinson and Wilde block, the Pride closed out the set , using kills from Mack and Holt to even the match at a set apiece.
The Pride battled back from an early three-point deficit to tie the third at 11 all following a Babson error. However, the stanza belonged entirely to the Beavers, as they scored 14 of the final 19 points to cruise to a 25-16 win.
Despite totaling just three kills in the fourth set, Springfield used tough serving to keep the Beavers at bay as they seized control early en route to a 25-13 win to force a fifth set. Babson committed 10 hitting errors in the frame, the highest single-set total for either team in the match.
In the decisive fifth, the Beavers went to Donahue early and often, and she produced four kills on nine errorless attempts in the frame. Babson jumped out to a 5-1 lead on a monstrous block from Donahue and Karnes, but the Pride clawed its way back to a 10-8 deficit following a Rebecca Higgins (Orchard Park, N.Y.) kill. Mackiewicz sided out with a kill and Roberston provided a solo stuff to push the lead to four, only to have Wilde convert consecutive kills, including one on an overpass to complete the win.
Springfield will continue league play on Thursday night when it travels to take on local-foe Smith at 7:00 pm.
