SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College volleyball team outlasted Framingham State 3-2 in the final contest of a tri-match hosted by the Lyons on Saturday in Mildred S. Howard Gymnasium, earning their third straight victory and rising to 6-1, their best start through seven matches since 2013.
The Lyons defeated visiting Husson University with relative ease on Saturday morning by a 3-0 (25-10, 25-18, 25-15) score. After defeating Husson 3-1 in the second match of the day, Framingham State traded sets with Mount Holyoke in a back-and-forth final match of the day, where the Lyons prevailed
Mount Holyoke 3, Husson 0 (BOX)
Junior Madeline Barton (Brookfield, Wis.) had 10 kills while hitting at a .400 attack percentage, and junior Elle Rimando (Mililani, Hawaii) added five kills on nine swings (.556) to lead the way offensively for Mount Holyoke. Junior Sadie Duffrin (Minneapolis, Minn.) added three kills and three aces to go with 16 assists, and sophomore Kyra Staples (Chatham, Ill.) had a match-high 10 digs in two sets of play. Sophomore Katie Frank (Prairieville, La.) had four kills, two aces and a block.
Several Lyons saw their most playing time of the season in the second and third sets. Senior Barah Burns (Los Angeles, Calif.) and first-year Sonja Gray (Sharon, Mass.) took some reps as setters and recorded five and four assists, respectively. Junior Mia Blattmachr (New York, N.Y.), sophomore Serena Li (Scarsdale, N.Y.) and Gray had two kills apiece.
Janna Preskorn had 10 of Husson's 20 kills in the match. Alyvia McIntyre had 16 assists.
Mount Holyoke 3, Framingham St. 2 (BOX)
Mount Holyoke nearly doubled up the visiting Rams (3-4) in taking the first set 25-13, but the match went tooth and nail the rest of the way. The Lyons didn't help themselves in committing 39 attack errors and 19 service errors, their most since the 2019 season opener, but the Lyons helped make up for it with their most team blocks in two seasons (9).
Senior Lucie Berclaz (Hull, Mass.) tallied a career-high 18 kills to lead the Lyons, while Barton and Rimando added 17 and 11 kills apiece. The Lyons also got five kills and six blocks from Frank, and five kills and five blocks from first-year Olivia Murray (Miami, Fla.).
Duffrin recorded a career-high 47 assists to go with four kills and 16 digs, while Staples added 25 digs and six assists.
Natalie Reynolds led Framingham State with nine kills.
The Rams tied the match at 1-1 and 2-2 to push the match into a final fifth set. Mount Holyoke took a 4-1 thanks to kills by Frank and Berclaz and a pair of team blocks, but the Rams came back to tie it at 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, and 7-7. A kill by Barton started a run of four straight points by the Lyons, but the Rams came back again to tie the score at 13-13 on a Lyons attack error. Mount Holyoke then got kills by Berclaz and Rimando to clinch the win.
Mount Holyoke will host Fitchburg State on Thursday, Sept. 19 at 7:30pm.
