Women’s Volleyball Splits at Wentworth Tri-Match

BOSTON – The Worcester State University women's volleyball team split with Wentworth and Lesley in a tri-match hosted by Wentworth Saturday afternoon.

THE BASICS
September 9, 2017
Worcester State (5-5)

WORCESTER STATE 3, LESLEY 0

The Worcester State University volleyball opened up Saturday's play with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-13) win over Lesley as Lauren Murphy (Taunton, Mass.), Stephanie Chapin (Hampden, Mass.) and Emily Carens (Northborough, Mass.) led the attack with seven kills apiece.

The first set saw its sixth tie when Worcester State committed a service error. However, the Lancers then went on an 8-0 run to open up the score to 17-9. Lesley was able to score two points to cut their deficit to six on a bad Worcester State set and a kill from Anni Abbruzzese (Croton on Hudson, N.Y.). However, the Lancers ran away with the win on an 8-2 run to close out the win.

Worcester State jumped ahead early in the second set, improving their lead to six (8-2) on kills from a variety of Lancers. The Blue and Gold held a 5-6 point margin throughout for a good portion of the game until Worcester State saw its largest lead of nine following Lesley attack errors. Lesley attempted to close the gap, but was held at that margin and lost 25-17.

The Lancers kept the momentum and tallied a 25-13 score in the final set for the win.

• Chapin earned a game-high honors in points (10.5) on seven kills, two service aces, and three block assists.
• Murphy, Chapin, and Carens led the attack with a combined 21 of the Lancers' 32 kills.
• Allie Nolan (Melrose, Mass.) led the Blue and Gold in assists with 26. She also picked up a team-high three service aces.
• Megan Leavens (Storrs, Conn.) dug out a game-high 18 balls.  
• Worcester State held Lesley to a negative attack percentage (-.011), while the Lancers marked a .229 kill percentage.

WENTWORTH 3, WORCESTER STATE 1

The Lancers were handed a setback in the second game of the day, as Wentworth took the match 3-1 with set scores of 21-25, 25-19, 25-10, 25-17.

Worcester State opened the first set on a 6-1 run with Murphy serving five points. Wentworth battled back to come within a pair at 13-11 on a kill from Katelyn Carlson (Stratford, Conn.). The Leopards would pull within one on a kill from Claire Quick (Mission Viejo, Calif.), however, three of the next four points came from the Lancers and Worcester State extended its lead to 23-18 on a kill from Chapin. The Black & Gold came within a pair after a kill from Samantha Lassiter (Rogers, Ark.), however Worcester State held on for the 25-21 win.

After Worcester State opened the second set by taking a 5-3 lead, Wentworth used an 8-3 run to take a 13-8 lead when Quick and Lassiter teamed up for a block. The Lancers scored the next three points to pull within a pair (13-11) on a kill from Carens. Wentworth built its lead to 17-13 before four straight Lancer points made it 17-all. A kill from Makenna Salsbury (Bel Air, Md.), who would then team for a block with Shea, and a ball handling error made it 20-17 before Salsbury recorded a kill to make it 21-17. The run continued as the Leopards went ahead 24-17 and evened the match with a 25-19 win. Lassiter and Salsbury had four kills apiece in the set for the Leopards while Carens added four for the Lancers.

The Lancers took the first two points of the third set before Wentworth went on a 7-0 run, thanks in part to three block assists from Lassiter – including two where she teamed up with Leah Rogoz (Woodridge, Ill). Worcester State crept to within three at 8-5, however, nine of the next 11 points went to Wentworth which took a 17-7 lead after an attack error. Wentworth's lead swelled to 20-9 before taking a 2-1 lead with a 25-10 win.

A back-and-forth fourth set saw no team lead by more than three points at one time. A kill from Quick tied the set at 9-all and sparked a 6-0 run which gave the hosts a 14-9 lead. Worcester State scored the next four points to pull within one at 14-13 on a kill from Carens. The Leopards responded with seven straight points to take a 21-13 lead on an ace from Quick and closed out the match with a 25-17 win.

• Rogoz finished with 17 kills, 23 digs, and four blocks.
• Quick had 10 kills, two aces, and 14 digs. Lassiter tied a program record with eight assisted blocks in a match and also recorded eight kills while Carlson has six kills and four blocks.
• Carens finished with 15 kills to pace Worcester State while junior Amari King (Lawrence, Mass.) had nine kills and 19 digs. Nolan had 30 assists.

UP NEXT

The Volleyball team's next match is scheduled for Tuesday (Sep. 19) when they travel to Keene State for a 7 p.m. game.

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Portions of this Release Courtesy of Wentworth Sports Information