South Hadley, Mass. - October 22, 2019 - First-year Marianne Simon (Miami, Fla.) produced a career-best 17 kills, junior Brayden Walden (McKinney, Texas) handed out a career-best 43 assists and junior Chelsea Galicia (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) posted a career-best 21 digs but the Mount Holyoke College volleyball team fell to visiting Clark, 3-1, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Tuesday evening in Howard Gymnasium.
The Lyons fell by the set scores of 30-28, 20-25, 28-30, 21-25.
Along with 17 kills from Simon, the first-year also collected 20 digs, while senior Sasha Simine (Kitchener, Ont.) posted 14 kills to go along with three aces and four digs. Sarah Bishop (Rutland, Mass.) also chipped in nine kills in the setback along with 12 digs.
Clark scored the first three points of the first set before a kill from Gabrielle Davis (Keller, Texas) sparked a three-point run to even the score at four apiece in the early goings of the match. The Lyons would overcome a 11-9 deficit and remain within one following a kill from McKenna Crosby (Jonesborough, Tenn.) before back-to-back aces from Bishop made it 17-15, Lyons. Simon would even the score at 25 with a kill towards the end of the set, before the hosts eventually pulled out the 30-28 opening-set victory on a kill from Bishop and an error on the Cougars.
Trading points to open the second set, Clark pulled away to make it 18-14, before a kill from Simine pulled the Lyons to within a pair, making it 22-20, Clark. From there, the visitors would pick up the last three points to close out the set, 25-20, and even the match at one.
The next set was another close one as the Lyons jumped out to an early 8-4 lead following back-to-back kills from Bishop and Crosby, before a kill from Davis made it 12-9. Holding on to a four-point lead late in the frame, Clark put together a three-point spurt to force a timeout from the Lyons' bench, and came out of the break with four-consecutive points to take a 23-20 lead. From there, Simon would even the game up at 24 apiece, but a pair of kills from the Cougars sealed the 30-28 victory to give Clark a 2-1 lead in the match.
Clark used the momentum from set three to open an early 8-2 lead in the fourth frame, but the Lyons evened the score with a six-point run that was capped by back-to-back kills from Simon. A 6-1 run in the middle of the stanza opened a 17-12 lead for Clark, before the Cougars closed out the 25-21 victory and 3-1 match win.
Up next, the Lyons will return to Howard Gymnasium on Friday, October 25 and will host Framingham State at 6 p.m.
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