Volleyball Can't Hold On At Lesley

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Lesley University overcame an opening set loss to defeat visiting Mitchell College 3-1 Sunday afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference women's volleyball play at the Nicholas Athletics Center. 
           
Lynx outside hitter Kaitlyn Miller led all players with a career-high 14 kills, Megan Ortwein followed with 10 and Danielle Johnson added nine on a team-best .389 hitting percentage. Defensively, Danielle McDonald got down for a match-high 23 digs as Lesley (4-9 overall, 2-0 NECC) held on to a share of first place in the NECC.
          
For the Mariners (5-8 overall, 2-1 NECC), senior Kendra Erskine totaled a career-high 11 kills on a match-best .400 average, and classmate Arianna Thomas and junior Gloria Charles tied for team-high honors with 22 digs. 
           
Mitchell used a 9-3 run to take an early 9-6 lead in the first set, and back-to-back Thomas kills extended the lead to 16-12 in the Mariners' 25-20 victory. The visitors got off to another encouraging start in the second set, taking a 10-6 lead before consecutive Ortwein kills started a 5-0 Lynx run in which Lesley tied the game at 17-17, took a 20-17 advantage and went on to win 25-21.
          
The teams exchanged early leads in set three, with a kill from Mitchell freshman Amanda Garcia tying the set at 7-7. Back-to-back Mitchell attack errors sparked a 6-0 Lynx run, with two more Ortwein kills helping send the Lynx in front 13-7. Lesley would lead by as many as eight in its 25-21 set victory. 
           
The Lynx opened up another 13-7 lead in the finale, this time thanks to a Johnson kill off of one of Donna Niosi's match-high 35 set assists. A Miller ball handling error later brought the Mariners back to within one, forcing a Lesley timeout, but a 5-0 run with Johnson at serve opened up a 22-16 Lesley lead, and the  Lynx went on to win 25-18. 
           
On the match, Lesley hit .193 as a team, holding Mitchell to a .039 average in spite of Erskine's performance. For Lesley, Miller also totaled a season-high 20 digs, her third straight match in double figures, completing her first double-double of 2012.

Mitchell returns to action at home against Elms College on Wednesday, October 10 at 6 p.m.