Volleyball Picks Up First Win

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College women's volleyball team notched its first win of the 2015 season with a 3-1 victory over Albertus Magnus College on Saturday afternoon at the Yarnall Athletic Center.

The Mariners (1-1 overall) took their home opener by set scores of 25-23, 26-28, 25-19 and 25-19. Senior Amanda Garcia finished with a team-high 11 kills on the day while sophomore Myia Williams added nine. Senior Nicole Caminiti handed out a match-high 34 assists and notched a double-double with 15 digs while classmate Kaisea Caramante led all players with 22 digs.

Megan Gritz paced Albertus Magnus (1-1 overall) with 11 kills while Ana Gomez tacked on nine. Ramona Onofrio finished with 29 assists and 10 digs while Megan Warnke chipped in with a team-high 13 digs.

In the opening set, the Mariners grabbed four straight points on the serve of Garcia to take a 15-13 lead and never trailed again. Mitchell opened the margin to 24-18 but had trouble closing the door. Albertus Magnus benefitted from three errors and added kills by Amber Cohens and Gomez to cut the deficit to one, but Garcia stifled the comeback with a kill for set point.

The Falcons came out on top in the second set to tie the match, although the Mariners rallied back from a 24-21 hole to serve for the set at 26-25. Marielis Muriel tied the score with a kill on the ensuing rally, and after a Mitchell error put Albertus Magnus back on top by one, Gomez ended things with her fifth kill of the set. 

In the third set, Mitchell led 12-7 when Caminiti stepped up to the service line and rallied her team to five straight points. Later a kill by Colby Zitoli gave the Mariners their largest lead of the day at 18-8, and from there the home team cruised to a 2-1 lead in the match.

Mitchell held the lead for the majority of the final set as Caminiti once again served her squad to an early 5-1 lead. Williams carried the offensive load with five kills in the stanza while Garcia added three and Amanda Rowan contributed two.

Mitchell will next play at Connecticut College on Tuesday, September 8 at 7 p.m. Albertus Magnus returns to action at home against Bay Path College on Wednesday, September 9 at 7 p.m.