WC Serves Up 17 Aces In Victory Over Lincoln

Gettysburg, PA – The Washington College volleyball team split a pair of matches today at day two of the Gettysburg Battlefield Classic at the Hauser Field House.  Washington (1-3) topped Lincoln (PA) 3-0 (25-5, 25-18, 25-17) in the second match of the day.  In the opening match, the Shorewomen fell to Scranton 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-17).

In the second match, the Shorewomen led 6-3 in the first set with 16 straight points to grab a 22-3 lead.  After winning the first point to regain the serve, sophomore outside hitter Jenny Lee (Wilmington, DE/Mount Pleasant) served up 15 straight points, including six aces during the flurry.  Washington, who never trailed in the entire match, jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the second set that was capped by a Lions attacking miscue.  The Lions cut the Shorewomen lead in the set to five points at 21-16 on a Nekia Morris kill, but could come any closer as WC closed out the set on a kill by freshman middle hitter Julia Erbe (Baltimore, MD/Pikesville).  In the third and final set, Washington raced out to a 9-0 lead on kill by junior outside hitter Alyssa Forget (River Vale, NJ/Pascack Valley) on a feed from freshman setter Lauren White (Huntingtown, MD/Huntingtown).  Lincoln (0-5) would respond though with a 12-4 run to cut the lead to 13-12 on Noel Webster kill.  However, the Shorewomen scored the next nine points to take a 22-12 lead on a Lee kill.  WC closed out its first win of 2010 on a Forget kill with freshman setter Karine Sager (Shamong, NJ/Seneca) tallying the assist.

The Shorewomen racked up 17 aces in the victory, led by Lee and White who both served six aces.  Sophomore defensive specialist Rita Rivera (Plymouth Meeting, PA/Plymouth-Whitemarsh) added four aces.  WC, who hit .304 in the match, had a balanced attack with Lee leading the squad with eight kills.  Forget and senior middle hitter Maria Whitman (Galesville, MD/Southern) had seven kills and Erbe chipped in with six kills.  White handed out a match-best 20 assists, while Rivera had eight digs.

For the Lions, Morris led all players with 10 kills and Lia Hubbard tied Rivera for match-high in digs with eight.

In the first match against Scranton (3-1), the Royals held a 12-11 lead before netting five unanswered points to take control of the first set as they went on to win 25-14.  Katie Newman ended the set on a kill from Juli Woods.  In set two, the Royals led 15-12 before scoring 10 of the last 12 points to capture the middle set.  Julia Kropf served up an ace to clinch the second set for Scranton.  In the third and last set, Lee gave WC a 6-3 lead on a service ace, but the Royals countered with a 5-0 run to take an 8-6 lead and a lead they would not relinquish.  Scranton capped the 5-0 run on a Newman ace.  Newman would also end the match on an ace.

The Royals hit .400 en route to the sweep.  Newman had 12 kills and zero errors in 20 attempts for a .600 hitting percentage.  Her 12 kills led all participants.  Woods and Emily Keim had 17 and 16 assists respectively for Scranton.  Jenell McFadden led all players with 11 digs and just missed a double-double as she had nine kills. Kropf also had nine kills.

For the Shorewomen, White had 17 assists to tie for the match high and Rivera led Washington with 10 digs.

Washington opens its home and Centennial Conference slate on Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m. against Franklin & Marshall.