Volleyball Falls to ECSU, Nichols in Season Opener

Volleyball Falls to ECSU, Nichols in Season Opener

DUDLEY, Mass. -- The Mitchell College women's volleyball team opened the 2019 season with a pair of losses on Saturday afternoon at Chalmers Field House.

The Mariners opened the day with a 3-0 defeat against defending Little East Conference champion Eastern Connecticut State University. Later in the day, Mitchell rallied back from two sets down against host Nichols College before falling by a 3-2 final.

Brianna Ley paced the Mariners with 15 kills on the day while Ariana Carter added 12, including a team-high seven against Nichols.

ECSU came out of the gates quickly and blitzed Mitchell 25-8 in the opening set. The Mariners closed the gap throughout the match, however, falling 25-16 in the second set and 27-25 in the third. Ley contributed a match-high nine kills in the loss while Cameron Childs finished with 11 digs. 

The Mariners fell into a 2-0 hole against Nichols, dropping the first set 25-23 and the second 25-15. In the third set, Mitchell took three of the final four points to win 25-23, with all three points coming via kills by Carter. A late 7-0 run gave Mitchell a 25-17 win in the fourth set to force a winner-take-all final stanza. The fifth set was knotted at 4-4 before Nichols pulled in front thanks to a pair of service aces and never trailed again.

Ley, Laurissa Amaker and Bree Rudolph contributed six kills apiece. Childs finished with a team-high 16 digs while Lexi Hubbard recorded a double-double of 16 assists and 13 digs.  

Mitchell (0-2 overall) will next play a tri-match with Northern Vermont-Johnson and Northern Vermont-Lyndon on Saturday, September 7 at 3 p.m.