WELLESLEY, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth volleyball team fought hard, but ended up falling on the road to Wellesley, 3-1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-23, 25-23) Thursday night at the Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse.
Freshman
Kate Wade led the Corsairs (9-10) with 13 kills and added 12 digs and four aces. Altogether, UMassD registered 19 aces as junior
Vanessa Barreto and sophomore
Gabriella Monico each had five. For the Blue (7-8), senior Nicole Doerges, the NCAA's leader in kills, extended her extended her kills streak of 20-plus to ten consecutive games with 23 kills with 10 digs.
Wellesley jumped out of the gate to a 9-2 lead with kills by Doerges, Rachel Xu and Alexis Stull. UMass Dartmouth then battled back with kills and aces from Wade and sophomore
Marley Alexander to cut the set to just two points, but the Blue reapplied the pressure and came away with the opening set, 25-23.
The Blue started set two much like the first, taking a 9-3 lead early on. The Corsairs then followed with an 8-1 run that was sparked by two aces from Monico to take an 11-10 lead, forcing the Blue to call timeout. The teams went back-and-forth until UMass Dartmouth scored the final three points on kills by sophomore
Maggie Sullivan, freshman
Lauryn Latimore and sophomore
Devon Laing to even the match at 1-1.
UMass Dartmouth got off to a blazing start in the third and looked to have the match evened up, taking a 20-12 advantage. Wellesley then cut its deficit to 23-17 and scored the final eight points of the set with four kills to take a 2-1 match lead.
The Blue got out to a quick start in the fourth set, taking a 12-5 lead. After the Corsairs cut it to one-point with six consecutive points and three aces from Barreto, Wellesley went on a 5-0 run and gained some breathing room with a 20-14 advantage. The Blue would withstand a late push by UMass Dartmouth to come away with the set, 25-23, and win the match, 3-1.
UMass Dartmouth is back in action on Sunday for a tri-match at Castleton. UMassD will first take on the Spartans at 1 p.m. and conclude the day versus MCLA at 3 p.m.
