NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College women's volleyball team claimed a 3-1 victory over Mount Holyoke College by scores of 25-22, 19-25, 25-17 and 25-16 in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) matchup on Saturday afternoon at Emerson Gymnasium.
Wheaton freshman right-side hitter Gaby Gryko (Moraga, Calif./Campolindo) notched a game-high 12 kills (.400 hitting percentage), one assist, three service aces and one dig to lead the Blue and White to its second conference win of the season.
Sophomore outside hitter Arieanne Creighton (Brookline, N.H./Hollis Brookline) chipped in with ten kills and one service ace, while classmate Elise Waelder (San Diego, Calif./Point Loma) filled the stat sheet with nine kills, two assists, four service aces and six digs.
Defensively, sophomore libero Robyn D'Agostino (Three Bridges, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional) paced the squad with a game-high 14 digs. Classmate Deirdre Wilson (Aptos, Calif./Aptos) added four kills, a game-high 28 assists, nine digs and one block assist. Wilson now has 20 or more assists in four-straight contests for Wheaton.
Mount Holyoke sophomore outside hitter Emma Sweeting (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hastings) compiled 11 kills, seven digs and one block assist to highlight the offense. Junior Kaleen Iwema (Wadsworth, Ill./Warren Township) turned in nine kills, two assists, two service aces and seven digs. Senior outside hitter Martina Kneifel (Oro Valley, Ariz./Canyon 
del Oro) tallied seven kills, two assists, four service aces and a team-high 12 digs. Classmate Kristina Weld (Warwick, Mass./Pioneer Valley Regional) recorded seven kills and two block assists to round out Mount Holyoke's attack.
The opening set of the match featured seven ties and five lead changes before Wheaton earned a 25-22 triumph. Gryko and sophomore outside hitter Taylor Matook (Exeter, R.I./Exeter-West Greenwich) combined for six putaways on zero errors for a .750 hitting percentage. Trailing 17-16, Wheaton seized all momentum in the match with a block by Matook and Wilson to even the score.
Waelder pushed Wheaton ahead 19-17 sending home back-to-back service aces and the Blue and White never relinqueshed the lead again. After Mount Holyoke called a timeout, Wheaton held off three separate rallies from its opponent down the stretch as Mount Holyoke made it a one-point contest on three different occasions.
Mount Holyoke posted a 25-19 victory in set two behind three kills, four service aces, two digs and one block assist from Kneifel. Weld aided the offense with three putaways.
Wheaton responded in the third set with a 25-17 win and closed out the match with a set-high 14 kills and a .300 hitting percentage in the final stanza. Wheaton received five kills from Gryko, four by Creighton and a pair of putaways from Matook and Waelder.
Wheaton (9-7, 2-1 NEWMAC) travels to Springfield College for a NEWMAC matchup on Tuesday, October 1 at 7 p.m. Mount Holyoke (8-5, 0-5 NEWMAC) hosts Wellesley College on Tuesday for a conference game at 7 p.m. Wheaton is 27-8 in the all-time series against Mount Holyoke dating back to 1988.
Story courtesy of Shawn Medeiros, Wheaton Sports Information.
