Volleyball Falls to Albertus Magnus in Four Sets

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College women's volleyball team dropped its home opener to Albertus Magnus College by a 3-1 final on Tuesday night at the Yarnall Athletic Center.

Melissa Manning led the Falcons (6-4 overall) with 19 kills and added 16 digs while Lily Dy handed out 34 assists and Alyssa Puccilli recorded a match-high 30 digs. For the Mariners (1-5 overall), senior Gloria Charles finished with a career-high 19 kills and added 15 digs while sophomore Amanda Garcia contributed 15 kills.

Albertus Magnus took the first set by a score of 25-13 before Mitchell bounced back for a 25-20 win in the second. The Falcons then narrowly took the next two sets by finals of 25-21 and 25-23.

In the first set, Albertus Magnus led 17-12 before Caitlin Prete went on a serving spree and brought her squad to within set point. Manning had three kills during the spurt while Puccilli added one.

Mitchell took the first three points of the second set but quickly fell behind. Charles rallied the Mariners back into the lead with four straight kills, and later in the set sophomore Nicole Caminiti served for four straight points to give the Mariners their biggest lead at 21-15. Mitchell went on to win the set on another kill by Charles, her sixth of the set.

The third set was close until Prete gave the Falcons a 14-13 lead with a kill and then moved to the service stripe to increase the margin to 17-13. Prete finished with three kills in the set while Manning added five as Albertus Magnus pulled out a four-point win.

The fourth set was tied at 23-23 before Taylor DePalma came through with a big kill for the Falcons. She then teamed up with Amber Cohens to provide a match-winning block on the ensuing point.

Cohens and Prete (18 digs) each recorded seven kills for the Falcons, who finished with 43 on the night. Caminiti dished out 30 assists for the Mariners and also had 15 digs.

Mitchell (1-5 overall) will next play a pair of matches at Eastern Nazarene College on Saturday, September 21 beginning at 1 p.m.