Volleyball Closes Out Season with Thrilling 3-2 Over Elms
NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College women's volleyball team wrapped up the 2014 season with a thrilling 3-2 win over Elms College on Saturday night in New England Collegiate Conference play at the Yarnall Athletic Center.
The Mariners (6-16 overall, 2-6 NECC) won by set scores of 25-17, 21-25, 24-26, 25-21 and 15-10. Freshman Myia Williams led three Mitchell players in double figures with a season-high 15 kills while junior Amanda Garcia added 14 and sophomore Amanda Rowan tacked on a season-high 13.
Elms (5-20 overall, 2-6 NECC) was led by Christine Searles, who finished with eight kills and a block. Lindsey McNiff and Ashlee Connors each contributed six kills while Caitlyn Larvey produced a match-high 25 digs.
Mitchell came out strong to start the match and never trailed in the opening set. The Mariners didn't commit a hitting error in the stanza en route to 13 total kills that included four from Williams and three each from Garcia, Rowan and freshman Janelle Rice.
Elms bounced back to take the next two sets to grab control of the match. In the second set, the Blazers trailed 20-18 before going on a 7-1 run to close out the stanza. Searles swung the momentum from the service stripe as she rallied her squad to six straight points to bring on set point. In a back-and-forth third set, Elms took advantage of a pair of Mitchell errors in the closing moments to pull out a two-point win.
The Mariners had to dig out of an early hole in the fourth set after Connors served Elms out to a 7-0 lead. However, Mitchell won nine of the next 11 points to tie the set at 9-9, and later in the stanza a serving spree by junior Nicole Caminiti turned a one-point lead into seven at 22-15. The Mariners closed out the set on a kill by Rowan to even the match at 2-2.
In the deciding fifth set, the score was tied at 9-9 when Mitchell made its move. A 5-0 spurt by the Mariners included a pair of kills from Williams and a service ace from freshman Lauren Tompkins to bring on match point, and then Williams delivered her final kill of the night to seal the win.
Caminiti tied a career high with 47 assists to pace the Mitchell offense. The Mariners hit a season-high .231 as a team and also produced their highest kills total (55) of the year. Both Caminiti and junior Kaisea Caramante each recorded 19 digs on the defensive side.