Women’s Volleyball Earns First GNAC Win of Season

STANDISH, Maine – Regis College withstood a rally by Saint Joseph's College that forced the match to go five sets, earning a 3-2 victory (25-21, 26-24, 23-25, 23-25, 15-13) Saturday afternoon in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference women's volleyball match at the Alfond Center Gymnasium.

Katryna Veasey (Quincy, Mass.) notched her fifth double-double of the season, earning a season-high 19 kills along with 17 digs, plus she picked up three service aces, as did Mica van der Meulen (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Emma Morales Cestero (San Juan, Puerto Rico). van der Meulen also finished with a double-double, the first of her career as she posted season-high totals of 27 assists and 10 digs. Rachel Bartels (Edinburg, Texas) collected 11 kills and Caroline Fuentes (Downey, Calif.) led the Pride with 21 digs.

In the fifth set, the two teams traded points early until Saint Joseph's won three straight points to pull ahead, 8-6. Down 11-10, Regis rallied back with kills by Veasey and Julia Pelland (Brockton, Mass.), followed by another kill by Veasey to give the Pride a 13-12 advantage. After a kill by Sarah Dyer tied the set, the Monks made an attack error, and MacKenzie Emco (Sutton, Mass.) closed out the set and the match with her seventh kill of the afternoon.

After losing the first two points of the match, Regis scored the next eight points to pull ahead in the opening set, 8-2, led by Veasey with three kills and a solo block. Saint Joseph's battled back, scoring six unanswered points, including two blocks by Erin Olson, to pull to within one at 11-10. The two teams went back and forth until the Pride scored the final two points on a kill by Emco and a solo block by Lauren Butt (Topsfield, Mass.).

The second set was even closer, as Regis responded to a quick three-point Monk run with five straight points of its own, led by two service aces from van der Meulen. Saint Joseph's answered with an 8-1 scoring run, featuring two kills and two service aces by Sarah Quinn, to pull ahead, 23-20. The Pride closed out the second set with a 6-1 scoring run, taking advantage of a couple of Monk errors to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Saint Joseph's (3-8, 2-1 GNAC) fell behind in the third set, 10-4, before starting its rally with a 7-1 scoring run to tie the set at 11-11. Regis once again pulled ahead, 21-17, after a service ace by Veasey, but the Monks never gave up, putting together an 8-2 scoring run to close out the set, capped by a kill from Olson.

The fourth set would be no different, as neither team was able to establish a significant advantage. Two kills by Quinn allowed Saint Joseph's to pull ahead, 16-13, but a Veasey service ace and a kill by Emco brought the Pride into a 16-16 tie. Regis again threatened to finish off the Monks with six straight points, featuring two kills and a block assist by Bartels, to take a 23-19 lead, but Saint Joseph's scored six unanswered points, punctuated by kills from Kelsey Bickford and Olson, to win the fourth set and force the deciding fifth set.

Quinn and Bickford led Saint Joseph's with 15 kills apiece, with Olson contributing eight kills and six total blocks. Monk starting setter Sarah Dyer notched a double-double with 29 assists and 18 digs, and libero Jennelle Thompson kept Saint Joseph's in the match defensively with an astounding 40 digs.

Regis (8-4, 1-1 GNAC), now on a five-match winning streak, plays its next seven matches at home, starting with a conference contest against Lasell Wednesday, Sept. 26, at 6 p.m. at Higgins Court.