SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College volleyball team won for the 14th time, the Lyons' most victories since 1994, as they closed out their home schedule Thursday night with a 3-1 (25-18, 26-24, 13-25, 25-20) victory over Elms College.
Mount Holyoke carries a 14-13 record into its last match of the regular season: the Lyons' most wins since going 17-17 in 1994. Mount Holyoke wraps up the regular season on Saturday at Wheaton; a win would send Mount Holyoke to the NEWMAC Tournament for the first time since 2006.
Elms (8-17) was led by Alysha Izquierdo with 15 kills and 12 digs, while Jaylen Holman had a match-high 28 assists and 20 digs.
The Lyons got big contributions from their seniors, who were playing for the last time in Mildred S. Howard Gymnasium:
- Senior Elle Rimando (Mililani, Hawaii) continued her torrid pace of late with 18 kills and only four errors on 32 attempts (.438), to go with 10 digs. Rimando increased her NEWMAC-leading kills and points per set averages to 4.05 and 4.75, respectively.
- Senior Madeline Barton (Brookfield, Wis.) had nine kills, three aces and 10 digs. Mount Holyoke's record holder for career kills continues to rank second to Rimando in both kills per set (3.80) and points per set (4.27).
- Senior Amelia Ringor (Lafayette, Ind.) had a team-high 18 digs.
- Senior Sadie Duffrin (Minneapolis, Minn.), Mount Holyoke's all-time leader in assists, had a match-high 27 assists to go with two kills and two aces. Duffrin ranks fourth in the NEWMAC in assists per set (8.23).
- Senior Mia Blattmachr (New York, N.Y.) served an ace.
Mount Holyoke also got 12 digs and five aces by junior Kyra Staples (Chatham, N.J.), seven kills from junior Serena Li (Scarsdale, N.Y.), and six kills by sophomore Olivia Murray (Miami, Fla.).
The Lyons raised their all-time record against Elms to 21-3, and broke the Blazers' two-match run against the Lyons from the teams' last two meetings in 2019 and 2018.
