Endicott starts season 2-1 at Gordon Tournament
Box Score - Match One
Box Score - Match Two
Box Score - Match Three
WENHAM, Mass. - In the first tournament of the 2009 season, the Endicott College women’s volleyball team walked away with a 2-1 mark to begin their campaign. The Gulls suffered a 3-0 loss to MIT in their first match of the day but bounced back nicely with a pair of wins over Wheaton and Muhlenberg by scores of 3-0 and 3-1, respectively. Endicott’s \#Amy Grigg\# (Vernon, Conn.) and \#Brittany Phillips\# (Sudbury, Mass.) each had 10 blocks in the three contests while Grigg set a program-record with seven solo blocks in the four-game win over Muhlenberg.
In the first contest of the day, the Gulls were dropped in three sets by MIT, 25-17, 25-22, and 25-14. \#Steph Wiese\# (Higganum, Conn.) led the way offensively for the Gulls as she had six kills while \#Elyse Barbour\# (Greenville, R.I.) chipped in with four of her own. \#Mollie Postma\# (Everett, Wash.) led EC with 10 assists while \#Ally Murphy\# (Gilford, N.H.) handed out eight and had eight digs. \#Courtney Harris\# (Southbury, Conn.) added 11 digs in the defeat.
Endicott responded nicely following their first defeat as the Gulls downed Wheaton, 25-12, 25-22, and 25-20 to even their 2009 mark at 1-1. Wiese was a force again with eight kills and 10 digs while \#Tim Byram\# used some of his freshman class including \#Jackie Gardner\# (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) who added six kills in the win. Murphy and Postma combined for another 25 assists (15 and 10, respectively). Freshman \#Ashley Norley\# (Sudbury, Mass.) also contributed with nine digs while \#Brittany Phillips\# picked up her first six blocks of the day.
In the final matchup on Saturday, Endicott was pushed to their respective limit as Muhlenberg took game one of the match, 25-23, before Endicott rattled off wins in the final three games, 25-21, 25-21, and 26-24. Barbour returned as the focal point of the offense as she tallied 11 kills in the match. Norley also played a major role as the rookie added 10 kills and 12 digs. Murphy was an assist-machine in the final games of the day as the junior dished out 27 assists and Postma added 16 of her own. Three Gulls were in double-digit digs including Norley, Murphy (11), and Phillips (17) while Grigg recorded her record-setting seven solo blocks.
For her efforts, \#Ally Murphy\# was named to the All-Tournament team as the junior handed out 50 assists and had 23 digs on the day.
The Blue and Green are off until Friday September 11th and Saturday September 12th when the Gulls will host their annual Endicott Invitational. The Gulls begin play at 4:00 p.m. on Friday with a match against Salve Regina and then play again at 6:00 p.m. against Eastern Connecticut State that night.