Volleyball Clips Newbury in Four Sets

NEW LONDON, Conn. – A balanced offensive attack led the Mitchell College women's volleyball team to a 3-1 victory over Newbury College on Wednesday night in New England Collegiate Conference action at the Yarnall Athletic Center.

The Mariners won by set scores of 25-19, 25-27, 25-11 and 25-23 to improve to 2-4 in league play. Megan Elphick led Mitchell with a career-high 11 kills and added five service aces. Myia Williams also finished in double digits with 10 kills while Marissa Sweeney and Ariana Carter each added nine and Italia Krick pitched in with eight kills, 10 digs and six aces.

Stephanie Rheaume paced the Nighthawks with match highs of 14 kills and 16 digs. Julia Leggett also chipped in with 11 kills and 10 digs while Marlen Reynoso finished with 21 assists and 14 digs.

Mitchell trailed 16-14 in the opening set before rallying for eight straight points behind the serve of Laurissa Amaker to take control. Carter supplied two kills during the spurt as the Mariners raced out to the early 1-0 advantage.

Newbury battled back from a 21-16 deficit to claim the second set and even up the match. The Nighthawks ripped off five straight points to pull even at 21-21, and later it was 25-25 when Reynoso and Leggett rallied for back-to-back kills to clinch the set.

Mitchell led 14-9 in the third set and widened the margin thanks to seven straight points on the serve of Krick, who supplied three aces during the stretch. Sweeney and Williams each tacked on four kills in the frame as the Mariners went on top 2-1.

In the fourth and final set, Mitchell trailed 13-9 before Elphick swung the momentum from the service stripe with four straight aces. From that point on neither side led by more than two, and the Mariners sealed the victory by winning three of the final four points to close out the match.

Lauren Tompkins finished with 33 assists to fuel the Mitchell offense, which finished with 52 kills in the match. The Mariners also hit a team-high .273 on the night.

Mitchell (2-16 overall) will close out the regular season at Becker College on Saturday, October 28 at noon. Newbury (2-22 overall, 0-6 NECC) returns to action at Bay Path University on Saturday at 1 p.m.