No. 5 Gulls Fall to No. 4 Wellesley in NCAA Regional
Nov. 8, 2007
CAMBRIDGE, MA - Fifth-seeded Endicott College was eliminated from the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball New England Regional Tournament by fourth-seeded Wellesley College, 3-0, on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Thursday afternoon in Cambridge, Mass.
Endicott and Wellesley opened the NCAA contest by trading points in the early going. The Blue built a 14-8 lead behind the serving of Emily Peters (Temescal Valley, CA/Villa Parks), giving Wellesley a comfortable game one advantage. Following an Endicott timeout, Wellesley and Peters continued their run, taking a nine point lead at 18-9. The Gulls had no answer for the Blue in the first game, falling 30-18.
The Gulls came out flying in game two as the Blue and Green exploded to an 8-5 lead. Following a Wellesley timeout, the Blue fired back by taking five of the next six points, pulling ahead 10-9. A back-and-forth affair developed through the midpoint of game two, as neither side could build any separation. Wellesley's Tracy Waldman (Seattle, WA/Roosevelt) earned a big kill upfront for the Blue, giving the four-seed a 20-18 lead. The Gulls battled their way back into the contest and on back-to-back points, capped off with an assisted block by Brittany Phillips (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln Sudbury) and Hayley Janelle (Madbury, NH/Oyster River), the Gulls evened the game at 24-all. Wellesley's front line teamed-up to score four-straight, including a strong kill from Samantha Du (Houston, TX/Cypress Ridge). Wellesley's Murielle Dawdy (Larkspur, CA/Redwood) ended the Gulls' chances in game two as she nailed home a kill on the near side to propel the Blue to a 30-25 win.
Kim Marschner (Londonderry, NH/Londonderry) put the Gulls ahead, 7-6, with an ace in the early part of game three. Moment's later, Wellesley regained the advantage as Lauren Rasmussen (Bonita, CA/Bonita Vista) blocked an Amy Grigg (Vernon, CT/Rockville) kill attempt, putting the Blue up 12-10. Wellesley continued adding to its lead as the Blue took six of the next nine points, taking an 18-13 lead. The Gulls made a valiant effort to pull back within striking distance; however the Wellesley lead would prove to be too large for Endicott to overcome. In the end, the Gulls dropped the game and the match, 30-26.
Wellesley College was led by Alice Cummings (Tallahassee, FL/Lawton Chiles), as the sophomore had 14 kills in the victory. Billie Briones (Sonoma, CA/Sonoma Valley) dished out 24 assists while Emily Peters had 12 digs for the Blue.
Endicott was paced by Hayley Janelle's 10 kills. Brittany Phillips was also strong upfront for the Gulls, chipping in nine kills and three digs. Meghan Hall (Santa Cruz, CA/Aptos) had 25 assists while Steph Wiese (Higganum, CT/Haddam-Killingworth) added five kills and 10 digs in the losing effort.
With the win, Wellesley improves to 28-6 and advances to the NCAA Division III New England Regional Semifinals on Friday. The Blue will meet the winner of the No. 1 MIT vs. No. 8 Maine Maritime match-up. Endicott ends the season with a record of 26-11.