Cooney and Daunoras With Eight Kills Each For Washington

SALISBURY, Md. – Host #25 Salisbury dropped the first set to visiting Washington College, but rallied to grab the next three sets en route to a 3-1 (15-25, 25-10, 25-13, 25-10) victory on Wednesday night in a non-conference volleyball match between the Eastern Shore rivals at the Maggs Center.

In the first set, the Shorewomen snapped a 2-2 tie with eight straight points to take a 10-2 lead on a kill by sophomore middle hitter Jess Daunoras (Shamong, N.J./Seneca).  Washington (7-5) clinched the opening set on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Kristin Lee (Dayton, Md./River Hill) on a pass from freshman defensive specialist Audrey Utchen (San Ramon, Calif./Monte Vista) to take the first set 25-15.

In the second set, Salisbury (16-2) scored the first three points and took a 17-10 lead before scoring the final eight points to take the set by 15.  A bad set by the Shorewomen clinched the second set for the Sea Gulls and the match was even at a set apiece.

Salisbury scored 12 of the first 13 points of the third set to take a 12-1 lead on an assisted block by Julie Poston and Tam Weems of a Washington attack.  The Sea Gulls led by as many as 13 points on three occasions and took the set on an attack miscue by Washington to take a 2-1 lead in sets.

In the fourth set, Salisbury broke a 2-2 tie with seven consecutive points to take a 9-2 lead on a Weems kill.  The Sea Gulls scored the final three points of the set and match to take the match in four sets and clinched it on a Nikki Binetti kill.

Mattie Smith had a match-best 18 kills and hit .500 in the match and also totaled eight digs for the Sea Gulls.  Kacey Franz had 22 assists and 17 digs to lead all players in both categories to tally a double-double, while Michelle Meehan had 12 digs.  Gretchen Vandermeer had 17 assists for Salisbury.  The Sea Gulls had six blocks from Poston and Weems along with four rejections from Binetti.  Salisbury hit .282, had 10 aces and 11 blocks as a team.

Daunoras and freshman outside hitter Caitlin Cooney (Gaithersburg, Md./Covenant Life School) had eight kills each to lead Washington.  Utchen had a team-best 15 digs, while senior setter Lauren White (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) had 15 assists to lead the team.

The Shorewomen will compete at the Goucher Invitational on Friday and Saturday.  On Friday, the Shorewomen will play Lebanon Valley at 4:00 p.m. and Kean at 8:00 p.m. in Towson, Md.