Bristol Reporter

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth volleyball team split its tri-match on Saturday. The Corsairs first fell in five sets in an intense match against Keene State (15-25, 25-17, 21-25, 25-23, 15-13) before sweeping Dean College (25-19, 25-5, 25-6).

The Corsairs move to 13-6 and 2-2 in the Little East Conference (LEC), while the Owls improve to 5-12 and 2-2 in the LEC and the Bulldogs drop to 3-18 on the year.

VS. KEENE STATE

UMass Dartmouth came back from 20-15 to force a fifth set, Keene State then trailed 8-3 in the fifth and rallied to take the match.

Sophomore Kate Wade finished with 15 kills and 19 digs, while junior Devon Laing tallied 12 kills and 16 digs. Juniors Maggie Sullivan added 13 kills, while classmate Marley Alexander had nine. Freshman Emily Pogorelec notched a career-high 33 digs, freshman Sabrina Bordone had 13 digs and 26 assists.

The Corsairs stuck with Keene State in the early going of the first set after a kill by Wade and an ace from freshman Emma Roussaeu made it a 6-5 KSC lead. The Owls then gained momentum and closed the set on a 19-10 run to take a 1-0 advantage in the match.

UMass Dartmouth came back in the second set to even the match. Sullivan's kill started an 8-3 run to set the tone, while Wade and Sanker kept it going to extend the lead to 15-7. Keene State then closed its gap to 17-14, but a kill by junior Gabriella Monico and an ace from Alexander set up the Corsairs for kills by Wade and Alexander to even the match.

Keene State took a close third set. After the Owls went up, 10-3, three straight kills by Laing and more spikes from Sullivan, Sanker, sophomore Monika Kristjansdottir and Wade helped cut the deficit to 16-12. Keene State then went up, 19-15, but the Corsairs went on a 6-4 run to make it 23-21. Keene State then closed it out with an ace and a kill to take a 2-1 match lead.

UMass Dartmouth came from behind to force a fifth set. Trailing 20-15, Wade spiked a kill to spark a 7-1 run to put the Corsairs on top, 23-21. With the home crowd behind them, a kill by Laing and a Keene State error pushed the match to the final set.

UMass Dartmouth jumped ahead to an 8-3 advantage in the fifth set after a kill by Sullivan. Keene State then scored five-straight points to even the score and the teams went on to trade points until it was tied at 11. Keene State took control and scored four of the final six points to take the match.

VS. DEAN

UMass Dartmouth dominated the Bulldogs with a clean sweep. Wade finished with 15 kills and eight digs, while Alexander tallied 13 kills. Pogorelec led all players with 14 digs and Kristjansdottir notched nine digs with five kills.

Each of UMass Dartmouth's first 13 points were on kills. In that sequence, Wade and Alexander each had five kills, while Laing, Kristjansdottir and Sullivan all had one to give the Corsairs a 13-7 lead. Dean hung around to make it a 16-15 set, but UMass Dartmouth ran away with a 9-4 run to take go up, 1-0.

The second set was complete domination. Pogorelec had three aces as the Corsairs took a 9-1 advantage. Wade then tallied four kills as the lead extended to 16-1, and Sullivan completed the 25-5 win with a kill.

The third set was more of the same. Monico, Kristjansdottir and Laing combined for eight kills to make it a 9-2 lead. Sophomore Natalia Abreau got in on the action to push the advantage to 16-2. Finally, an ace from Bordone finished the match.

UP NEXT

UMass Dartmouth is on the road on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. match at UMass Boston.

Original source can be found here.