Volleyball Earns First NECC Win vs. Lesley

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College women's volleyball team picked up its first conference victory of the season on Senior Day by a 3-2 final over Lesley University on Saturday night at the Yarnall Athletic Center.

Mitchell (6-6 overall, 1-4 NECC) won by set scores of 25-27, 25-22, 25-10, 19-25 and 15-11. Senior Bianca Young, playing in the final regular season home match of her career, led the Mariners with 11 kills and five aces. Sophomore Gloria Charles and freshman Jaclyn Tempkins each finished with seven kills apiece.

Danielle Johnson led the Lynx (4-13 overall, 1-3 NECC) with a match-high 19 kills and also contributed 11 digs and four aces. Kaitlyn Miller pitched in with seven kills and a team-high 16 assists while Alyson Finbow added seven kills and four aces.

The opening set was close throughout, but Lesley snapped a 25-25 tie behind a Mitchell error and a kill by Finbow to take the early lead. Mitchell responded by going up 5-0 in the second set and never trailed en route to a three-point win.

The Mariners got off to a good start once again in the third set, vaulting out to a 13-3 lead in what would become the most lopsided stanza of the night. Mitchell finished with 14 kills and seven service aces in the set to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Lynx didn't go down without a fight in the fourth, responding with 11 kills to rally back and tie the match at 2-2. Johnson had six kills in the set alone, more than Mitchell had as a team.

The Mariners went up 6-1 early in the final set before the Lynx came back to tie the score at 10-10. Mitchell won the ensuing point on a quick-set attack by senior Marie Connelly, and Stracuzzi followed with a kill down the line to push the lead to two. After a bad serve trimmed the lead to 12-11, the Mariners captured the next three points—including kills from Tempkins and senior Brittany Zaccaria—to win the match.

Mitchell finished with a team hitting percentage of .174 and produced a season-high 21 aces from the service stripe. Stracuzzi and Connelly handed out 19 and 12 assists, respectively, while sophomore Nicole Terni contributed a match-high 19 digs and five aces.

Mitchell will close out the regular season with six straight road games, beginning at Eastern Connecticut State University on Monday, October 17 at 7 p.m.