MOUNTAINEERS CLIMB OVER PRIDE, 3-0

WESTON, Mass. – Southern Vermont College used set scores of 25-16, 25-7, and 25-3 en route to a 3-0 win over host Regis College in New England Collegiate Conference women's volleyball action on Thursday night. The Mountaineers improve to 14-1 overall and 2-0 in the NECC, while Regis falls to 6-14 and 0-2 in league play.

The Pride traded points with SVC through the first couple of points in set one and Regis' Samantha Bliss (Framingham, Mass.) made it a two point deficit for the Pride at 5-3 with a kill on a pass from Soraia Pinto (Brockton, Mass.). The Mountaineers answered with an 11-3 run capped off by a Sarah Graham (Moreno Valley, Calif.) kill that prompted a Regis timeout.

The Crimson and Gold scored four straight points, including kills by Jackie Silver (West Hills, Calif.) and Sarah Gold (North Hollywood, Calif.) and a service ace from Sara Casullo (Little Falls, N.Y.), to make it a 19-13 game. The Mountaineers scored points in small bunches before sealing game one on a Pride error to take the opening set 25-16.

In the second set, Regis got as close as 5-3 as a Vanessa Noesi (Puerta Plata, D.R.) kill kept it a two point game early on. Back-to-back service errors by the Pride forced another Regis timeout, and SVC would respond to the break in action by going on a 15-2 run to end the set, including 11 straight points served by Cindyline Sevilla (Los Angeles, Calif.) to end game two, 25-7.

The final set was all Southern Vermont as they carried over their strong play from the previous game by opening set three on a 12-2 run before Regis called timeout. Vanessa Noesi would register both kills in the game as Southern Vermont ran away with game three on a 13-1 run to take the final set, 25-3.

The Pride were led by four kills from Noesi, while Samantha Bliss added three kills and eight digs. Soraia Pinto handed out nine assists, while Casullo and Sara Gold chipped in with seven digs apiece.

SVC's Ashily Veliz (Los Angeles, Calif.) led the Mountaineers with nine kills, while Jessica Alvarez (Los Angeles, Calif.) chipped in with eight of her own and Danielle Healis (Escondido, Calif.) added five kills. Carrie Baltazar (Whittier, Calif.) handed out a match-high 23 assists, while Alvarez and Cindyline Sevilla led the defense with 11 and 10 digs each, respectively.

Regis looks to avoid a three game skid on Saturday afternoon as the Pride travels to Bay Path College for an NECC contest at 12:00 p.m. Southern Vermont tries to make it five in-a-row on Saturday when they host Daniel Webster in a league game at 2:00 p.m.