SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (Oct. 9, 2012) – First year outside hitter Deirdre Wilson posted 15 kills on 25 attempts and added 17 digs to lead Wheaton College past Mount Holyoke College, 3-1 in NEWMAC volleyball action on Tuesday evening at the Mildred S. Howard Gymnasium. With the victory, the visitors improve to 7-15 overall and 2-4 in conference play. The homestanding Lyons slip to 3-12 and 0-6 in the NEWMAC.
Trailing by a 1-0 margin after the first set, Mount Holyoke took advantage early in the second frame, going up 6-1. A receiving error on the visiting Lyons later made it 8-2, but Wheaton continued to hand tough.
Following a kill by MHC's first year outside hitter Emma Sweeting (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hastings), junior Martina Kneifel (Oro Valley, Ariz./Canyon del Oro) had a nice touch which Wheaton's Frances Trimble (Rapid City, S.D./Northfield Mount Hermon) couldn't handle to push the home team to a 13-9 lead. Mount Holyoke took advantage of multiple ball handling errors against Wheaton and a big kill by Sweeting helped seal the victory in the second frame by a 25-21 margin.
The home team started with the lead to open the third, but the set quickly became a back-and-forth affair as neither side allowed for more than a two-point gap the rest of the way. Mount Holyoke held a 23-21 lead but back-to-back kills from Wilson (Aptos, Calif./Aptos) tied it up at 23-all and the visitors went on to take the third stanza, 26-24.
In the fourth set, a kill by Wheaton's Arieanne Creighton (Brookline, N.H./Hollis Brookline) gave the visitors a 3-1 lead to open the set. The Lyons continued to press, grabbing a 6-2 advantage behind a kill from first year setter Jackie Kochiss (Milford, Conn./Jonathan Law), but MHC pulled back into it, closing the gap to 7-6 on a ball handling error by the visitors.
Another timely kill from Wilson made it a 10-7 lead in the set and Wheaton continued to roll, going up by a 16-9 margin. Mount Holyoke cut the gap to 22-14 on a nice drop in kill by Kneifel, but the Lyons could not get any closer as Wheaton sealed the game victory with a 25-16 win in the fourth set.
In addition to Wilson, who also added three service aces, Wheaton saw Creighton finish with eight kills and four digs. Kochiss posted 27 assists, while Trimble chipped in with 11 digs.
For Mount Holyoke, Sweeting recorded a game-best 17 kills while also posting three block solos. Sophomore setter Stephany Yang (Glen Allen, Va./Henrico) added a game-high 28 assists with 16 digs, while sophomore libero Kaleen Iwema (Wadsworth, Ill./Warren Township) had a game-best 19 digs.
MHC returns to action on Saturday when it faces Keene State (12pm) and Plymouth State (2:30pm) in Keene, N.H. Wheaton is in action on Thursday, hosting Mount Ida at 7pm.
Photo courtesy of Frank Poulin.
