Final Stats
Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Volleyball team opened the 2011 season on Thursday night with a 3-0 loss to visiting William Paterson. The Dolphins were bested by the Pioneers by set scores of 16-25, 13-25 and 20-25. Senior Jessica William (Cornwall, N.Y.) paced the Dolphins with five kills and 18 digs in the contest.
Mount Saint Vincent never led in the opening set and after knotting the score 1-1 early on in the stanza, it saw William Paterson reel off six of the next seven points to open a 7-2 lead.
Trailing 14-9, the Dolphins mounted a comeback that saw them creep to within a point at 15-14 after a pair of kills from Kaitlyn Gaynor (Island Park, N.Y.). William Paterson closed the set on a 10-2 run to take an early 1-0 lead.
The visitors controlled the second set from the beginning and opened a lead as large as 12 points. The Pioneers finished the frame with 15 kills and a .279 hitting percentage, while the Mount managed only eight winners and committed five errors.
Down 2-0 in the match, Mount Saint Vincent jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the third set as it tried to work its way back into the match. The Pioneers came back to knot the score at 12-12 and from there the two teams traded tallies, until the Pioneers broke a 17-17 tie with five straight points to open a 22-17 advantage. The Dolphins could only close the gap to 22-20 before dropping the final three points and the match 3-0.
Williams led the way with five kills for Mount Saint Vincent and was also the team leader with 18 digs on the night. Gaynor and Erin MacBride (Merrick, N.Y.) each finished the night with four winners, with MacBride posting a team-high 16 assists.
Senior Renee Reynes (Bronx, N.Y.) registered 12 digs and three kills on the night and Kristine DeMasi (Brooklyn, N.Y.) also chipped in with 12 digs.
William Paterson (1-0) was paced by 10 kills apiece from Kim Runge and Megan Maher on the night. Runge closed out an impressive evening with a match-high 22 digs to go along with a match-high four service aces.
Liz Dykhouse led the Pioneers with 17 assists on the night and Michelle Mitchell lifted 20 digs for the visitors out of the libero position.
Overall in the contest, William Paterson picked up 33 kills to 23 for the Mount and totaled 10 service aces to just one for the Dolphins. The Pioneers also held a big advantage in digs at 90-69 on the night.
The loss drops Mount Saint Vincent 0-1 on the season heading into a four match weekend in Gettysburg, Pa. The Dolphins will take part in the Battlefield Classic starting on Friday when they take on Rutgers-Camden at 3:00 p.m. and Gallaudet at 5:00 p.m.
