NORTH ANDOVER, MASS. (October 21, 2022)- The Stonehill College women's volleyball team traveled to Merrimack College for a quick Northeast Conference road matchup and the Purple and White came away with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-22, 24-26, 25-16) win in a four-set battle. With today's win, Stonehill has now earned the program's first Division I win and first NEC win.

Lauren McCloskey and Jentry Allen each finished with 12 kills on the evening and for McCloskey, she posted a season-high 12 kills and she has now finished with 10 or more kills four times this year. Meanwhile, for Allen, it is her fifth time this season posting 10 or more kills. Emma Graves also tallied double-digit kills (10) which marked her second game in a row with at least 10 kills. Molly Turner guided the offense tonight with 22 assists and it is her eighth time this year with 20 or more assists. She has now posted more 20-plus assists games in a season than any other year in her career. On the defensive end, Kristen DeLorenzo finished with 18 digs which marked her seventh time on the year with 15 or more digs. Five different Skyhawks each recorded a solo block on the night (Allen, McCloskey, Lindsey Peirson, Mia Berardino, and Kaitlyn Watson). 

In the opening set, each side went back and forth, and when things were knotted at 10, Stonehill went on a 6-1 run for their largest lead of the set (16-11) spearheaded by a kill and ace from Allen along with a kill by Graves. Stonehill continued to hold Merrimack off but after the Warriors cut it to two (22-20), two Merrimack service errors and Allen's kill gave the squad a 25-22 set win. Allen led the Skyhawks with five kills in the set whereas McCloskey and Graves had three and two kills respectively. Turner ended up assisting on nine of the 13 Skyhawk kills in the opening set.

Set number two started out the same as the first and after McCloskey tied things at eight with a kill, Stonehill jumped out to a two-point lead (12-10) with kills from Allen and McCloskey. Despite the two-point lead, Merrimack came back to tie the set at 12 and both teams pushed each other back and forth and after a Merrimack setting error tied it at 18, the Skyhawks grabbed their largest lead of the set (21-18) thanks to two kills from Allen and a Bianca Fitch service ace. The Warrior again pushed back and evened the set at 22 but Stonehill fended off Merrimack's momentum with a 3-0 run to go up 2-0. 

Merrimack's offense got out to a quick start going up 8-4 early on but the Skyhawks pushed back but after a McCloskey kill cut it to three (8-5), the Warriors went on a 4-1 push and doubled up the Skyhawks again (12-6). Stonehill again cut the Warriors lead to three (14-11) courtesy of a 5-2 rally led by kills from McCloskey and Graves along with a Fitch ace. Merrimack again gave themselves breathing room and went up five (17-12) but the squad battled back and found themselves down one (17-16) thanks to a 4-0 push after kills from Berardino and Graves. Both sides continued to battle after going up 23-21, Stonehill came back and tied it at 23 thanks to a kill from Allen. However, Merrimack ended up holding off Stonehill's comeback as the Warriors took set three, 26-24. 

In the fourth set with things tied at four, Stonehill went ahead with a 4-0 run (10-4) courtesy of kills by Peirson and McCloskey. Merrimack took the next point and cut the lead to five (10-5) but Stonehill put the match out of reach when the squad went on a 10-4 push for their largest lead (20-9). Berardino's three kills highlighted the Skyhawks offensive outburst along with kills from Watson (two), Graves (one), and Allen (one). Stonehill held off Merrimack the rest of the way from there as they secured the match win with a 25-16 victory. Allen and McCloskey each had three kills in the set and Berardino, Delaney Mihelich, and Watson also had two kills themselves. Mihelich assisted on seven of the 13 Stonehill kills in the final set whereas Turner helped out on five.

Up Next

Stonehill kicks off a five-game homestand against the University of Hartford tomorrow afternoon at 5 p.m. for their Alumni Appreciation game. 

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