SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Bay Path University came back from a lopsided first set to defeat the Mount Holyoke College volleyball team 3-1 (10-25, 27-25, 25-23, 26-24) Friday night in Mildred S. Howard Gymnasium, giving the Wildcats their first-ever victory in nine meetings against the Lyons.
Bay Path rose to 13-5 with its seventh win in its past eight matches.
The Lyons fell to 11-9 overall and 7-4 on their home court.
Anastasiya Tsetsko led Bay Path with 16 kills on 38 attempts (.237), with Lilly Kibbe and Asja Kazic adding 10 kills apiece. Shanayah St. Phard had a match-high 27 digs.
Mount Holyoke junior Madeline Barton (Brookfield, Wis.) had a career-high 23 kills on 61 swings, and first-year Olivia Murray (Miami, Fla.) also posted a career-best with 13 kills. Sophomore Kyra Staples (Chatham, Ill.) had a team-high 18 digs, and senior Lucie Berclaz (Vaud, Switzerland) had 15 digs to go with nine kills. Junior Sadie Duffrin (Minneapolis, Minn.) had 44 assists and nine digs.
Mount Holyoke romped through the first set, committing zero attack errors and compiling 17 kills for a sky-high .607 hitting rate. Murray tallied five kills on five attempts and Barton had five kills on six attempts, with Berclaz posting four more kills on eight swings. First-years Annika Lackstrom (New London, N.H.) and Josie McFadden (Edmonton, Alberta) added two and one kill apiece in the set. Mount Holyoke mounted a 20-6 lead en route to a 1-0 lead.
But Bay Path switched gears as soon as the second set began, getting a kill from Lilly Kibbe and an ace by Zormar Betancourt for a 2-0 lead. The Wildcats built an 8-3 lead, but the Lyons came back to tie it at 16-16 and led 21-19 after a pair of aces by Berclaz. After tie scores at 21-21, 22-22, 23-23, 24-24, and 25-25, the Wildcats tied the match with back-to-back blocks, with both involving Mckenzie Labier. The set win was Bay Path's second ever against the Lyons.
Anastasiya Tsetsko posted five kills in the set for Bay Path, and Labier had three blocks.
Bay Path continued its momentum into the third set, never losing its lead after making it 15-14. Mount Holyoke came back from being down 24-20 to close the score to 24-23, with two kills by Barton and an ace by Staples. But a service error stopped the run and the match advanced to the fourth set with the visitors up 2-1.
Tsetsko had six kills and no errors on 11 swings in the set (.545).
Bay Path followed a similar path in winning the fourth set, building and maintaining a slight lead through the set until Mount Holyoke posted a late comeback that came up short for the hosts. Mount Holyoke tied the score at 20-20 with a block by McFadden and Duffrin, but the Wildcats responded with three straight points to pin the Lyons to a 23-20 deficit. A Kibbe kill made it 24-21, but Mount Holyoke scored three straight to tie it at 24-24, using a kill and an ace by Barton. But back-to-back errors sent Bay Path home as 3-1 victors.
Mount Holyoke next plays a NEWMAC match at Coast Guard Tuesday at 7pm. Bay Path will host Elms College Wednesday at 7pm.
