Nichols Edges Out Women's Volleyball

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Nichols College women's volleyball team battled to a 3-0 victory over Mitchell College on Wednesday night at the Yarnall Athletic Center.

The Bison (2-1 overall) won by set scores of 26-24, 25-15 and 28-26. J'ena Baker led all players with 18 kills, accounting for more than half of her team's total. Moriah Burns added six kills while Sabrina Boermeester chipped in with five kills and a team-high 13 digs. Zoe Chevrette handed out 24 assists to fuel the offense, which finished with 35 kills on the night.

Mitchell (0-2 overall) got solid contributions up front from Marissa Sweeney, Gabrielle Murphy and Megan Elphick. Sweeney finished with eight kills while the other two each contributed seven. Lauren Tompkins tallied 24 assists while Elphick led the defense with 10 digs.

Nichols jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening set and never trailed. Mitchell fell behind by as many as seven before slowly working its way back, eventually tying the score at 24-24 on a service ace by Tompkins. However, Boermeester responded with a kill on the ensuing point, and she then closed out the set with a service ace as the Bison held on for the 1-0 lead.

The second set was tied at 13-13 when Megan Gardner served for five straight points to open up a Bison lead. Nichols later led 19-15 when Chevrette served out to make it a 2-0 lead. In all the visitors won 12 of the final 14 points of the set, including a 7-0 run to close things out during which Baker contributed four kills.

The final set was again closely contested, with Mitchell climbing out of a 23-18 hole to take a 25-24 lead following a big kill by Sweeney. After the teams traded points, the Bison tied things up on a kill by Gardner and then captured the final two points of the match on consecutive kills by Baker. She finished with nine kills in the third set alone, giving her a third straight match with at least 18 kills.

Mitchell will next play at Albertus Magnus College on Thursday, September 14 at 7 p.m. Nichols returns to action at the Coast Guard/Conn College Tournament on Friday, September 8 at 4 and 6 p.m.