Volleyball Drops Five-Set Match to Roger Williams

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's volleyball team suffered their first loss in conference play to Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) rival Roger Williams in a thrilling five-set match (15-25, 23-25, 25-17, 25-23, 15-10) Saturday afternoon in MacDonald Gymnasium.

Endicott captured the first two sets of the match before watching the Hawks come-from-behind to win and improve their season record to 9-6 (3-0 CCC).

Roger Williams was led offensively by sophomore outside Lara Lolacono (Lynbrook, N.Y.) who struck a team-high 16 kills with a .222 hitting percentage. Hawks middle hitter Molly Quilty (Duxbury, Mass.) added 11 kills but was most effective blocking at the net with one solo block and seven block assists.

Sophomore setter Julia Fields (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) stuffed the stat sheet with 36 assists, 10 digs, five block assists, and seven kills on 16 errorless attacks.

Gulls junior outside hitter Emma Mancini (Lynnfield, Mass.) matched her career-high with 19 kills and was complemented by 15 kills by senior right side Lauren Sheehan (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) and another 11 from sophomore outside Alex Dippel (Fallston, Md.).

Defensively for Endicott, senior libero Cydney Pierce (Carpinteria, Calif.) set a new season-high with 29 digs. She was one of four players with double-digit digs as setters Zoey Gifford (Natick, Mass.) and Mareena Clotfelter (Poulsbo, Wash.) as well as freshmen defensive specialist Nichole Trudon (Coventry, Conn.) had at least 10 digs each.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Mancini's career-high of 19 kills has been achieved two other times in her career – Sept. 2, 2017 at Springfield and Nov. 11, 2016 versus Springfield in the NCAA First Round.
• Pierce's career-high for digs is 35 – set on Oct. 16, 2015 in a five-set win over Coast Guard.
• The Gulls came out swinging with team hitting percentages of .125 and .275 in the first two sets but were limited in the final three, registering attack percentages of .105, .082, and .000, respectively in sets three through five.
• Gifford dished out 43 assists in the loss, her third highest total this season. Her season-high is 45 assists in a 3-0 win over Dallas.
• On the block, freshman Nicole Winkler (Southborough, Mass.) had a two solo blocks and two assisted blocks while junior middle Emily Diezemann (Peabody, Mass.) had a team-high three block assists.

FOR THE FOES

• The rivalry between Endicott and Roger Williams is now even at 17-17 after today's Hawks win. Roger Williams is now in sole possession of first place in the conference standings.
• Roger Williams hit .000 as a team in the first set but turned things around quickly by registering .125, .306, .156, and .147 in the remaining sets.
• Hawks libero, senior Meghan Chartier (Inverness, Ill.), paced her team's defensive effort with 25 digs.
• Grace Kenningham (Houston, Texas) was a presence with 19 digs while contributing eight kills offensively.
• Junior outside hitter Nicki Fallisi (Salem, N.H.) factored in defensively in the match with 15 digs and three block assists.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (10-6, 3-1 CCC) looks to rebound in their first match of the month of October at Gordon on Wednesday, October 4. The match starts at 7:00 p.m. Roger Williams (9-6, 3-0 CCC) travels to Western New England on the same night for a 7:00 p.m. tilt with the Golden Bears.

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(Photo Credit - David Le '10)