DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The UMass Dartmouth volleyball team split its tri-match Saturday with a come-from-behind-win over Framingham State (10-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 15-7), before falling in four sets to Western New England (25-18, 16-25, 18-25, 19-25). It was the first two matches of the year for the Corsairs.
UMassD (1-1) will now prepare Clark on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Framingham State (0-2) and Western New England (2-0) play each other again on Thursday at 7 p.m.
MATCH 1 vs. FRAMINGHAM STATE
Framingham got off to a fast start and took a 10-4 lead due in large part to back-to-back aces and a trio of kills. Freshman
Lauryn Latimore sparked a run by the Corsairs with a kill and sophomore
Marley Alexander cut the deficit to 12-7 with an ace. The Rams then pulled away with a 13-3 run to take the first set, 25-10.
UMass Dartmouth shook off the rust in the second set and went blow-to-blow with Framingham in the early going (7-7). The Corsairs then scored the next three points thanks to a kill by Alexander and an ace from freshman
Kate Wade to take a 10-7 advantage. UMassD slowly built its lead to 20-11 with kills by Alexander, freshman
Monika Kristjansdottir, sophomore
Devon Laing, and Wade. The Rams battled back to bring the score to 23-22, but the Corsairs held them off, taking the set, 25-23, and evening the match.
Framingham took a close third set to take a 2-1 match lead. With the set tied at eight, the Rams used an ace and consecutive kills to build a 14-10 advantage. Kills by Alexander, Wade, sophomore
Maggie Sullivan, and sophomore
Gabriella Monico were not enough as the Rams went back ahead.
With their backs to the wall, the Corsairs came through and forced a fifth set with a 25-22 victory in the fourth. Just like previous sets, the teams found themselves in a 6-6 tie. That changed when Wade, Latimore, and Monico each got kills, to put UMassD ahead, 13-8. The Rams tied things late (22-22), but a trio of kills by Wade sent the match to a fifth set.
UMass Dartmouth dominated the final set, taking a 4-1 lead, with two more kills by Wade and another by junior Vanessa Barretto. The Corsairs then outscored the Rams, 14-6, to secure their first win of the season.     Â
MATCH 2 vs. WESTERN NEW ENGLAND
In the second match of the day, the Corsairs and Golden Bears were evenly matched in the early going of the first set. The Corsairs tied the score at 11 after kills from freshman
Chelsea Sanker, Wade and Latimore. Then Wade and Alexander had a pair of kills to increase the lead to 19-14 and put the home team in a good position to take the first set. UMassD closed the first set on a 6-4 run to take a 1-0 lead.
Western New England jumped out to an 8-1 advantage in the second set. UMass Dartmouth closed the gap to 14-9 with aces by Kristjansdottir and kills from Latimore and Laing. WNE closed the set on an 11-7 run to tie the match at 2-2.
Monico and Sullivan notched kills in the third to bring the score to a one-point deficit (16-15), but the Golden Bears scored the next nine of 12 points to take the third set, 25-18.
UMass Dartmouth kept the fourth and final set close early on (10-9), but Western New England sealed the match by going on a 15-10 run to take the win.
