DARTMOUTH, Mass. -Â Fresh off their first Little East Conference win, the Corsairs took down Elms College, 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 25-18), Thursday night at the Tripp Athletic Center.
UMass Dartmouth (5-6, 1-1 LEC) was led by freshman
Kate Wade, who recorded a double-double with 13 kills, 12 digs and added three aces. Sophomore
Devon Laing tallied 15 digs, while junior
Vanessa Barreto finished with 14 digs. Sophomore
Marley Alexander came away with five blocks and freshman
Zoe Dizenzo led the match with 25 assists. For Elms (9-5, 4-1 GNAC), senior Alanys Cruz picked up 14 digs, while junior Natalia Caraballo led the match with 18 digs.
It was an evenly matched first set as the score was all square at 10. The Corsairs then built a gap after kills by Laing, freshman
Monika Kristjansdottir and Wade built the lead to 20-15. Elms stormed back into the set with a 10-5 run to tie the score at 25 and force extra points. An error by the Blazers and an ace from Wade gave the Corsairs a 27-25 first set win.
The beginning of set number two started similarly to the first. With the scored tied at 11, the Blazers went on a 7-4 run to take an 18-15 advantage. Blocks by Wade, Alexander and freshman
Lauryn Latimore jump-started a 10-2 run that was capped off with a kill by Alexander to give UMass Dartmouth a 25-20 set win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set looked to be over early as the Corsairs scored the first six points after kills by Latimore and Wade, and eventually found themselves ahead, 11-3. Elms raced back into it with a 12-6 run to close its deficit to 17-15. That was as close as the Blazers would get as UMassD scored six consecutive points with two aces from Barreto and closed the match on an 8-3 run to take the third set and the match.
The Corsairs are back in action for a tri-match at the Tripp Athletic Center on Saturday. UMassD first plays Southern Maine at 12 p.m., and closes the day against Mass. Maritime at 4 p.m.
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