#4 Endicott Rides Strong Offensive Performance to Defeat #5 UNE 3-1; Gulls Travel to #1 RWU Thursday

BEVERLY, Mass.- Squaring off the for the second time in the last week, #4 Endicott defeated #5 UNE 3-1 to advance to the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Women's Volleyball Semifinals for the 13^th straight season.  The Gulls (16-15, 5-3 CCC) will square off against #1 Roger Williams (20-5, 8-0 CCC) on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. while the Nor'Easters (11-15, 4-4 CCC) end their 2014 campaign.  Endicott took the 3-1 decision after winning by set scores of 25-21, 25-12, 18-25 and 25-20.

Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) was able to keep the UNE defense at bay as she spread out the offense, recording 44 assists in the four set win.  Four Endicott hitters reached double digit kill totals compared to just two for UNE.  Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) and Elise Morgan (Holbrook, Mass.) recorded 12 kills each, tying them with UNE's Grayson Szczepaniak (Lakewood, Ohio) for the match high.  The two Endicott outsides also chipped in seven digs each while McIntyre edged Morgan in aces, 3-2.  Lexi Watts (San Diego, Calif.) and Hayley Knapp (Valencia, Calif.) were extremely efficient from the right side and middle respectively as Watts hit .526 (11-1-19) for the match and Knapp hit .346 (11-2-26).

The Endicott defense was led by freshman libero Cydney Pierce (Santa Barbara, Calif.) as she tied the second best dig total of her career, picking up 17 in the win.  VandeMerkt nearly completed the double-double as she totaled nine digs to add to her 44 assists while Jessica Petrucci (Cape Coral, Fla.) claimed eight of her own.  Hayley Knapp also played well defensively, leading the match with three assist blocks.

For the visitors, their two All-CCC Second Team honorees played well to the end, as Szczepaniak and Leah Janelle (Madbury, N.H.) led the team in kills with 12 and 10 respectively.  Szczepaniak was able to add an ace and a solo block to her performance while Janelle displayed her two-way game, gathering seven digs in the setback.  Fellow outside Rachel McGahie (Westmoreland, N.H.) notched seven kills and 15 digs which were a team high while libero Nikki Mathewson (Merrimack, N.H.) was second, finishing her season with a 14 dig effort.  Setter Brooke Gibbons (Miami, Fla.) played well in the loss, dishing out 33 assists to go along with eight digs.

A tight first set saw both offenses struggle to get going as Endicott just out-hit UNE .207 to .194.  The Gulls also held the edge in side-out percentage, doing so at a 63% clip (14-22) compared to 54% (13-24) for the Nor'Easters.  The second set would prove to be all Endicott as the Gulls offense erupted to hit .424 (15-1-33) for the set while holding the UNE offense to just a .148 (6-2-27) average.  The third set would prove to be a close affair up until late in the set when UNE was able to piece together a couple of nice serving runs and execute offensively to claim the 25-18 win to force extra sets.  In the third, UNE hit .323 while limiting Endicott to a .059 output, forcing a fourth set as the Gulls still held the 2-1 advantage.  In the fourth, both teams would battle through a tight set with Endicott pulling out to a 14-11 advantage at the first UNE timeout before extending that lead to four, 22-18 at the final UNE timeout.  The Gulls would go on to claim the fourth 25-20, and the match, 3-1.

With the win, Endicott improves to 16-15 on the season and will now travel to #1 Roger Williams on Thursday for their CCC Semifinal match.  Following the setback, UNE drops to 11-16 and ends their 2014 season.  For those who cannot make the trip to Bristol, R.I. on Thursday, live stats and video links will be posted on the Endicott women's volleyball schedule page HERE when they have been made available.