Endicott Defeats Wellesley 3-2, Falls to Ithaca 3-0 at Wellesley Invitational

WELLESLEY, Mass. - The Endicott women's volleyball team rallied from a 2-1 deficit to knock off host Wellesley 3-2 Saturday morning before falling to Ithaca 3-0 to cap off the Wellesley Invitational.

With the split, Endicott is now 15-11 on the season as the Gulls will face only Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opponents for the rest of the regular season. 

MATCH ONE: Endicott 3 Wellesley 2 (14-25, 25-19 , 22-25, 25-23, 15-13)

Endicott claimed their first match of the day, rallying to defeat the hosts in a five set thriller. The Gulls were led by freshman outside Alex Dippel (Fallston, Md.) who recorded a career-high 14 kills on 51 swings to go with 12 digs. The double-double performance was also the first of her collegiate career. 

Setters Mareena Clotfelter (Poulsbo, Wash.) and Zoey Gifford (Natick, Mass.) combined to post 40 assists and 24 digs in the win as the Gulls hit .211 for the match. 

BEYOND THE BOX

• In the sets that the Gulls won, the team hit .308, .289 and .280 compared to just the .040 and .103 averages in the first and third that they lost.
• It was the second five set victory of the season for the Gulls, the first of which came last weeknd when Endicott defeated Westfield State at the Springfield Invitational.
• Erika Trudon (Coventry, Conn.) finished with a team-high 17 digs, extending her streak of double-digit dig performances to eight matches.
• Right side Lauren Sheehan (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) finished with 10 kills and just one error on 28 swings to finish with a .321 average. Senior middle Rasa Hamel (Clinton, Conn.) was the only other Gull to hit over .300 in the match as she posted a .312 performance with seven kills and two errors on 16 swings to go with five assist blocks.
• Each of the last three meetings between the two programs has gone to five sets with Endicott winning two of them.

FOR THE FOES

• Freshman Meaghan Shoop (Cypress, Calif.) led all players with 18 kills on 39 swings. The outside comitted only three hitting errors to hit .389 for the match to go with five digs.
• Setter Michelle Li (Scarsdale, N.Y.) posted a match-best 48 assists in the setback. The 48 assists tied her career high that she posted last season against Ithaca, in a five set win.
• Samantha Hoang (Elk Grove, Calif.) posted 31 digs against the Gulls as the libero set a new career high.

MATCH TWO: Ithaca 3 Endicott 0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-19)

Endicott fell to Ithaca 3-0 on Saturday to finish the Wellesley Invitational 1-2. The Bombers were dominant in the match, hitting at a .338 clip as a team while also holding the Gulls to a .095 average defensively.

Freshman Alex Dippel again led the Endicott attack, posting team-bests in kills (8) and hitting percentage (.417). 

BEYOND THE BOX

• Senior outside Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) tied with Dippel for the team-high in kills with eight while also adding two digs and an ace.
• Libero Erika Trudon finished with nine digs in the setback while Mareena Clotfelter led the team with 16 assists.
• Freshman Zoey Gifford finished with 13 assists to go with five digs which was good for second on the team.

FOR THE FOES

• The Bombers were led by Taylor McCarthy (Pawling, N.Y.) who finished with eight kills on 14 swings as the freshman hit .429 for the match.
• Caitlyn Floyd (Mahwah, N.J.) and Amanda Cerruti (West Islip, N.Y.) finished with seven kills each. Floyd, operating as a setter/right side in the 6-2, also added 13 assists, while Cerruti, a middle, finished with three assist blocks.
• Endicott is now 0-2 all-time against Ithaca, having dropped the only previous meeting 3-1 in 2010.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Gulls have four matches remaining on the season, all against Commonwealth Coast Conference opponents. Endicott starts off that stretch by next traveling to Western New England on Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. start.