WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke volleyball team came back from an 11-6 deficit in the fifth set to defeat host Wellesley College 3-2 (25-22, 16-25, 25-21, 13-25, 15-12) on Tuesday night, for the Lyons' fourth straight victory.
Mount Holyoke (12-7, 3-3 NEWMAC) has three conference wins for the first time since 2001.
Senior Madeline Barton (Brookfield, Wis.) had 20 kills on 62 attempts (.242), and senior Elle Rimando (Mililani, Hawaii), named NEWMAC Offensive Player of the Week earlier on Tuesday, had 15 kills with 10 digs and three aces. Sophomore Olivia Murray (Miami, Fla.) had eight kills in the match, including three on four attempts in the fifth set.
The Lyons had a season-high nine team blocks, including six solo blocks and two block assists by sophomore Sonja Gray (Sharon, Mass.).
Senior Sadie Duffrin (Minneapolis, Minn.) had 40 assists and 12 digs, and junior Kyra Staples (Chatham, Ill.) had a match-high 26 digs.
Wellesley tied the match at 2-2 by nearly doubling Mount Holyoke's score in the fourth set, carrying all the momentum into the final frame. Back-to-back kills by Murray gave Mount Holyoke a 6-4 lead, but Wellesley responded with a 7-0 run to seize the 11-6 advantage, including three straight aces served up by Logan Wilson.
The Lyons finally broke Wilson's serve with another kill by Murray to make it 11-7.
A service error by Wellesley closed the gap to 12-11 and brought on Lyons first-year Elanni Romero (Nashua, N.H.) to serve. A block by Duffrin and first-year Milan Dansoh (Davie, Fla.) tied the score at 12-12, and Romero served out the remainder of the match, using two more attack errors by the Blue and a final kill by Barton.
Kaija Kunze-Hoeg led Wellesley with 16 kills on 49 attempts (.286), with Evelyn Hill adding 10 kills. Kunze-Hoeg led Wellesley with five service aces, as the Blue totaled 17 aces for the night, the most by a Mount Holyoke opponent this season.
The Lyons are tied for fifth place in the NEWMAC standings with Emerson, while Wellesley (7-9, 2-4 NEWMAC) is tied for seventh place with Coast Guard and WPI.
The win against Wellesley is Mount Holyoke's second in the rivals' past 31 meetings and raises the Lyons' all-time record against the Blue to 19-50.
Mount Holyoke next takes on Babson at home Saturday at 1pm.
