Volleyball Wins on Senior Day

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College women's volleyball team ended the season with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-21) victory over Southern Vermont College on Saturday afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference action at the Yarnall Athletic Center.

Mitchell improved to 4-17 overall and 1-7 in NECC play. Southern Vermont dropped to 5-20 overall and 0-8 in the league.

Mitchell's Amanda Rowan finished with a match-high 12 kills in the final game of her career. Megan Elphick added seven kills while Janelle Rice handed out 28 assists and Colby Zitoli contributed a team-high 16 digs. 

Tay Phillips led Southern Vermont with 10 kills while Lizzy Bench added a match-high 18 digs. Brin Goldman chipped in with 15 assists and 11 digs.

Mitchell fell into early holes in each of the first two sets but dug out quickly. In the opener, Italia Krick keyed a 7-0 run from the service stripe that gave the Mariners their first lead. The stretch included a kill and two aces from Krick and a pair of kills by Elphick, and the result was a 16-10 lead that Mitchell never relinquished.

In the second set, Sarah Billow served SVC out to a 5-0 advantage before the Mariners recovered. Mitchell pulled ahead behind a 5-0 run that included a pair of kills by Rowan to lead 10-7. The Mountaineers never got closer than two the rest of the way as Rowan and Krick each finished with four kills in the stanza.

Elphick got the Mariners off to a good start in the third set, serving for three aces and recording a kill en route to a 5-1 lead. The Mountaineers kept it close, however, and later led 17-15 following consecutive kills by Billow and Phillips. 

A kill by Rowan put Mitchell back on serve, and Zitoli rallied for six straight points to break the game open. Rowan had three kills during the 7-0 spurt that fueled the Mariners down the stretch, and moments later a kill by Myia Williams – her sixth of the contest – ended the game.

Prior to the game the Mariners honored Rowan, their lone senior, in a special ceremony. She went on to record her fifth double-digit kill game of the season and capped her career with 439 total kills.