Gulls Defeat Nor'Easters 3-1 in CCC Opener

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's volleyball team kicked off Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play with a 3-1 win over the University of New England on Wednesday night in the MacDonald Gymnasium.

The Gulls were able to break a 19-19 tie in the first and pulled away for a 25-21 first set win to go up 1-0. The Gulls and Nor'Easters would again battle to a 19-19 tie in the second before the visitors would pull away late to claim a 25-20 set win to even the match at 1-1.

As was true all night, the third would be yet another close battle as the teams were tied at 22-22 before UNE pulled away for a 24-22 lead with a chance to go up 2-1. Endicott fought back behind back-to-back assist blocks to tie the set at 24-24 before then getting kills from Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) and Lauren Sheehan (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) to claim the dramatic 26-24 set for the 2-1 lead.

Endicott would pull away from UNE with the score tied at 18-18 in the fourth to claim a 25-21 set win and the match, 3-1 to improve to 8-5 on the season, and more importantly, 1-0 in CCC play. With the setback, UNE falls to 5-5 on the season and 0-1 in CCC play.

BEYOND THE BOX

• Playing in her first match since the home opener against Salem State, Erika Trudon (Coventry, Conn.) posted 21 digs for an average of over five per set. The senior co-captain also chipped in three assists and one ace in the win.
• Fellow co-captain Tori McIntyre led the Gulls with another double-double, claiming a match-high 16 kills to go along with 11 digs. The double-double performance was the 30^th of her career and her fourth of the season.
• Joining in the defensive effort was sophomore Cydney Pierce (Carpinteria, Calif.) who picked up 14 of her own. Fellow sophomore Emma Mancini (Lynnfield, Mass.) finished with eight kills and nine digs while she hit at a .300 clip (8-2-20).
• Setters Mareena Clotfelter (Poulsbo, Wash.) and Zoey Gifford (Natick, Mass.)combined to record 38 assists with 20 going to Clotfelter and 18 to Gifford.

FOR THE FOES

• Erika Sawicki (Wilbraham, Mass.) led the Nor'Easters with 10 kills while also adding six digs in the setback.
• Libero Brittany Morrison (Rosemount, Minn.) impressed defensively, making 19 total digs that included multiple highlight efforts.
• Setter Kristen Falcinelli (Silver Spring, Md.) dished out 38 assists while also picking up 12 digs on the night for her second consecutive double-double performance.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Gulls will remain home through the weekend as they play host to Salve Regina on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. as a part of Endicott's Homecoming & Family Weekend. The Nor'Easters travel to Dudley, Mass. to take on CCC foe Nichols on Saturdayat 1:00 p.m.

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