Gulls Fall to Chargers in Four

NEW LONDON, N.H.-  The Endicott women's volleyball team struggled offensively in a four set loss to the Chargers of Colby-Sawyer as the Gulls hit just .028 to CSC's .156.  The match was the first time that Colby-Sawyer has defeated Endicott since 2005.  Endicott had won previous four meetings between the two squads in straight sets.  The two programs have a storied rivalry as the Chargers were in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) prior to the 2011 season.  The rivalry was highlighted by the 2007 & 2008 CCC finals that saw the Gulls defeat the Chargers to advance to the NCAA tournament.

On this night, however, Colby-Sawyer was able to take down Endicott by scores of 25-20, 17-25, 18-25 and 17-25.  Endicott was led on offense by freshman Mackenzie Guerre (Carlsbad, Calif.) as she picked up 10 kills and was able to collect three blocks.  Callie Dolan (Westford, Mass.) was second for the Gulls as she picked up eight from the outside.  Hannah Dahlgren (Queensbury, N.Y.) chipped in six kils of her own.  Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) was able to tally 29 assists and nine digs.  Senior libero Ashley Norley (Sudbury, Mass.) picked up 25 digs for the Gulls in the defeat.

Colby-Sawyer was led at the net by two juniors in outside Courtney O'Hara (Mystic, Conn.) and middle Emilee McBride (Strafford, N.H.).  O'Hara led all hitters in kills as she notched 16 kills on 44 attempts with seven errors and hit at a .205 clip for the match.  McBridge picked up 12 on 41 attempts as she hit .097.  Sophopmore Jackie Keating (Marshfield, Mass.) tallied 10 kills of her own as she hit a match-high .333.  Setter Laura Simolinski (Hebron, Conn.) was impressive as she led all players with 39 assists.  Junior libero Ally Le-Bruno (Medfield, Mass.) was able to explode for 39 digs in the four set victory.

With the loss, Endicott now drops to 10-17 overall and remains at 4-2 in CCC play.  Colby-Sawyer improves their overall record to one game below .500 at 12-13 and 5-0 in NAC play.  Endicott is off until Saturday when they host New England power houses Coast Guard and Connecticut College at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.  Colby-Sawyer hosts Green Mountain College and Castleton state at 4 & 6 p.m. on Saturday.