BOSTON, Mass. – In a battle of early unbeatens, the UMass Dartmouth women's volleyball team came out on top, coming from behind to defeat Emerson College, 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-16, 15-11) in non-conference action on Friday evening. The Corsairs move to 4-0 overall, while the Lions are now 3-1 on the young season.
Trailing by a 2-0 margin, the Corsairs battled back once more in the third. Down 11-4, UMass Dartmouth rattled off four straight points, including two service aces from senior outside hitter
Kate Wade, to pull it to within three (11-8).
UMass Dartmouth found itself down 19-16, but another 4-0 run moved the visitors ahead by a 20-19 margin with kills from rookie right side
Olivia Seutter, Wade and senior middle blocker
Monika Kristjansdottir.
The homestanding Lions regained the lead and the teams' traded points until the 23-all mark when a strike from senior opposite
Chelsea Sanker and Seutter closed out the set in favor of the Corsairs.
Fourth set action saw the Corsairs come out firing, opening a 4-1 lead. It was a back-and-forth battle as each team fought for possession with Emerson taking a 13-10 lead. UMass Dartmouth rebounded as Seutter and sophomore middle hitter
Maddie Carter dropped in kills to lead to a tie set.
That momentum set up an 8-0 run for the visitors, including three kills from Seutter along with two aces from junior defensive specialist
Emily Pogorelec, which moved UMass Dartmouth into a 21-14 lead. The Corsairs held Emerson to just two points, closing out the set win to tie the match behind another ace from Wade.
Final set action saw UMass Dartmouth storm out to a 7-1 lead with back-to-back kills from sophomore outside hitter
Allison Pate pacing the effort. The Lions countered down 13-8 with three straight points to pull within two (13-11). It was as close as they'd get as Seutter laid down consecutive kills to take the match victory.
In addition to her match-high 18 kills, Seutter also had two assists, a service ace, five block assists and three digs. Wade finished with 17 kills, adding 15 digs, two assists, five aces and two block assists on the night. Pogorelec posted a match-high 34 digs with five assists and three aces, while Pate finished with five kills, adding 26 digs overall. Sophomore setter
Skye Peters added 25 assists with a block assist and nine digs to go along with three kills.
For the Lions, Parker Cummings had 17 kills with an assist, two service aces and nine digs. Amelia Combs dropped in 15 kills with 14 digs, while Chloe Hokenson had a match-high 40 assists with 24 digs and five block assists. Brooke Maynez added 12 kills with five block assists as well.
The Corsairs return to action on Saturday, traveling to Babson for an 11am tilt against the Beavers. UMass Dartmouth concludes the day in Babson Park, taking on Franklin & Marshall at 2pm.
