South Hadley, Mass. - September 21, 2021 - Senior outside hitter Sarah Bishop (Rutland, Mass.) posted a team-best eight kills and classmate Gabi Davis (Keller, Texas) added seven of her own but the Mount Holyoke College volleyball team fell to visiting Clark University, 3-1, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play at Howard Gymnasium on Tuesday evening.

With the loss, Mount Holyoke College drops to 2-7 on the year and 0-3 in the NEWMAC, while the Cougars improve to 9-2 overall with a 2-0 record against league opponents. Clark was victorious by the set scores of 25-16, 25-16, 16-25, 25-13.

Complimenting Bishop and Davis was senior setter Brayden Walden (McKinney, Texas), who handed out 25 assists, while senior libero Chelsea Galicia (Altadena, Calif.) led the Lyons with 24 digs. 

For Clark, Claudia Rivera and Victoria Pastor registered a match-best 15 kills while setter Yvanna Torres delivered 53 assists and led the Cougars offense to a .241 hitting percentage. 

Davis and McKenna Crosby (Jonesborough, Tenn.) opened the match with back-to-back kills but the Cougars quickly jumped out to a 6-2 lead before a the Lyons crawled back to within one when a service ace from Lucie Berclaz (Kyogo, Japan) made it 9-8, Clark. Kills from Crosby and Bishop kept Mount Holyoke within three late in the frame, but a kill from Camille Fleury sealed the 25-16 opening set victory for the Cougars.

Clark scored the first four points of the second set before their run was interrupted by a kill from Bishop, followed by an ace from Walden. Then back-to-back kills from Willet Parkins (Norwich, Vt.) and Marion Abeja (Kumi, Uganda) cut the Lyons deficit to three, making it 8-5, Clark. Trailing 16-7, Mount Holyoke put together a 6-0 run which included kills from Bishop and Parkins to pull the Lyons back to within three, but Clark would go on to score eight of the last nine points to win the set, 25-16, and take a 2-0 match lead.

Mount Holyoke started the third set on a 6-0 run which included a kill from Davis to take a 7-3 lead early in the frame, before an ace from Crosby made it 10-7, Lyons. With the game even at 16 apiece, Mount Holyoke College then ended the set on a 9-0 run featuring a kill from Abeja and an ace from Berclaz to cut the Lyons match deficit in half.

After trading points to begin the fourth set, Clark took an 11-5 lead on an ace from Bailey Vogel before Abeja delivered a kill of her own and followed with an ace to pull Mount Holyoke back to within four. A kill from Galicia followed by an ace from Walden made it 15-10, but from there, the Cougars went on a 7-0 run to take a 22-10 advantage before closing out the match on an ace from Rivera and a kill from Sofia Scherrer del Llano.

Up next, Mount Holyoke College will entertain Babson College and Bay Path University ina tri-match on Saturday, September 25 beginning at 11 a.m. in Howard Gymnasium.

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