Senior Kelsey Weymouth led the Skyhawsk attack with 14 kills. |
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (October 13, 2015) – The Stonehill College women's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to Merrimack College by scores of 18-25, 25-27, 25-20 and 19-25 in Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) action at Hammel Court on Tuesday night.
Seniors Kelsey Weymouth (North Attleboro, Mass./North Attleboro) and Delia Phillips (St. James, N.Y./Smithtown East) lead the way for the Skyhawks attack with 14 (.233 hitting percentage) and 13 kills (.333 hitting percentage) respectively, while sophomore Marykay Nasby (Belle Plaine, Minnesota/Belle Plaine) chipped in 10 kills of her own (.231 hitting percentage).
Junior setter Taylor Stevens (Foster, R.I./Ponaganset) facilitated the offense with a match-high 42 assists, 13 digs, and one service ace. Stevens looks to start a new streak of consecutive 40 assist matches, after she saw her last streak snapped against Adelphi on Saturday. Sophomore libero Claire Manuszak (Indianapolis, Indiana/Bishop Chatard) added 12 digs and three assists.
Junior outside hitter Jennifer Cain (Melrose, Massachusetts/Melrose) and sophomore outside hitter Christina Nye (Plaistow, New Hampshire/ Timberlane Regional) led the Merrimack attack with Cain collecting 14 kills and Nye recording 12. Junior setter Tara Stuhr (Huntington Beach, Calififornia/Huntington Beach) dished out a match-high 46 assists, and senior libero Madison Burke (San Jose, California/Valley Christian) totaled a match-high 20 digs.
After falling behind 1-0 after the first set, the Skyhawks battled back in the second, securing back-to-back set points and taking a 24-22 lead. They couldn't put away the Warriors as Sofia Basauri (Beaverton, Oregon/Southridge) and Juliette McCall (Torrance, California/ Bishop Montgomery) registered consecutive kills to even the match at 24. The Warriors took a 26-25 lead before a Skyhawk error gave Merrimack the second set and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set started just as the first two did, with both teams locked in a tightly contested battle. With Stonehill leading 10-9, the Skyhawks rattled off six consecutive points to take a 16-9 advantage, matching their highest lead of the match. Stonehill held Merrimack to a .065 hitting percentage in the third set, cruising to a 25-20 set victory.
The Warriors raced out to a 6-2 lead before the Skyhawks went on a 5-1 run to even things at seven. The fourth set would remain close until Christina Nye's 12th kill ended it at 25-19, and gave the hosts the set and the match, 3-1.
Following this evening's contest, Stonehill (7-10, 3-6 NE-10) will return home to host Franklin Pierce University on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Merkert Gym. Merrimack (7-9, 2-3 NE-10) is back in action on Friday night as they host Southern New Hampshire University.