DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth volleyball team swept its tri-match against Southern Maine (3-1; 25-23, 23-25, 25-17, 25-23) and Mass. Maritime (3-0; 25-7, 25-11, 25-11) Saturday afternoon at the Tripp Athletic Center. It was the first win over the Huskies since the 2015 season.
The Corsairs (7-6, 2-1 LEC) have now won four matches in a row and jump their record over .500, while the Huskies (6-10, 1-3 LEC) split the day and Mass. Maritime (1-14, 0-3 MASCAC) dropped its fifth consecutive match.
VS. SOUTHERN MAINE
Sophomore
Devon Laing had a monster match, recording a double-double with 19 kills and 22 digs, adding three aces, while freshman
Kate Wade also had a double-double with 14 kills and 15 digs to go along with four blocks and four aces. Sophomore
Marley Alexander led the team with five blocks, while freshman
Zoe Dizenzo led all players with 47 assists.
The Corsairs jumped ahead to a 9-5 lead in the first set thanks to kills by Laing and Wade. UMassD continued to build its lead when errors by the Huskies and a kill by Laing brought the score to 16-9. USM then went on a 12-7 run to close the gap to 23-21, but kills by Wade and freshman
Lauryn Latimore secured the set one win.
Southern Maine bounced back to even the match at one set apiece. UMass Dartmouth held onto a slim lead, going ahead, 22-18. The Huskies then rattled off a 7-1 run to take the second, 25-23.
With the third set tied at six, the Corsairs went on an 8-3 run of their own with kills by Laing, Latimore and Wade to build a 14-9 lead. UMass Dartmouth continued to fend off the USM attack and scored six consecutive points, which included a kill by sophomore
Gabriella Monico, to go up, 22-13, and eventually take a 2-1 lead in the match.
UMassD played from behind in the fourth set and found themselves in a 22-19 hole. Kills by Wade, Latimore and sophomore
Marley Alexander sparked a 6-1 run to finish the match.
VS. MASS. MARITIME
The Corsairs completed a sweep of the Buccaneers. Alexander and Wade led the team with six kills, while sophomore
Annika Laudemann recorded 10 kills for the Corsairs.
UMass Dartmouth ran away with the first set, taking a 15-7 lead with kills by Monico, Wade and Alexander. UMassD then scored the final 10 points of the set highlighted by a kill by Dizenzo.
The Corsairs jumped ahead to a 13-3 advantage in the second set and finished things off with a 12-7 run to take a 2-0 match lead.
Mass. Maritime hung around in the beginning of the third set, trailing 5-4. A kill by Wade sparked a 20-7 run to close the match.
The Corsairs are on the road for a 7 p.m. match at Worcester State on Tuesday.
