Wheaton comes back to defeat volleyball 3-1

Elle Rimando had nine kills, two aces and two blocks in Mount Holyoke's loss at Wheaton on Oct. 10, 2023. (File photo courtesy of Micheal Ringor)
Elle Rimando had nine kills, two aces and two blocks in Mount Holyoke's loss at Wheaton on Oct. 10, 2023. (File photo courtesy of Micheal Ringor)

NORTON, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College volleyball team took the first set from Wheaton College in teams' NEWMAC match on Tuesday night, but the host Lyons rolled in the next three sets to defeat the visiting Lyons 3-1 (18-25, 25-15, 25-18, 25-12).

Sydney Lyon led Wheaton (10-6, 2-4 NEWMAC) with a match-high 19 kills on .357 hitting, and Julianna Flack had 38 assists with 10 service aces. Hollis Hanson and Celina Henn had 10 kills apiece, with Hanson hitting at a .500 percentage and Henn adding 10 digs. Julia Wingler posted eight kills and five blocks.

Mount Holyoke (8-10, 1-5 NEWMAC) started the match red-hot, racking up 13 kills against three errors on 29 attempts (.345) to Wheaton's .147 percentage. Sophomore Madeline Barton (Brookfield, Wis.) had six kills in the set.

Wheaton came right back, jumping out to a 9-0 lead in the second set and allowing Mount Holyoke no closer than withing five points the rest of the way. Mount Holyoke's hitting dipped to -.033, with five kills against six errors, with Lyon piling up seven kills for Wheaton in the frame.

Mount Holyoke got out to a 10-5 lead in the third set, but Wheaton reeled off nine straight points to take a 14-10 lead. Flack had three aces on a string of four serves to extend the lead to 19-12, and Lyon put the set away at 25-18 with her fourth kill of the set.

Wheaton led the fourth and final set wire to wire, hitting at a .300 rate to Mount Holyoke's .100, as Lyon, Hen and Hanson combined for nine kills and one attack error on 19 attempts.

Barton led Mount Holyoke with 12 kills in the match, while sophomore Elle Rimando (Mililani, Hawaii) added nine kills with just one error on 18 attempts (.444) to go with two aces and two blocks.

Junior captain Lucie Berclaz (Hull, Mass.) had four kills and tied for the team lead in digs (13) with first-year Kyra Staples (Chatham, Ill.). Sophomore Sadie Duffrin (Minneapolis, Minn.) had 30 assists.

Mount Holyoke will host Springfield College in a NEWMAC match on Saturday at 1pm.