Volleyball Stays Hot By Sweeping Mass. Maritime

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. -- The Mitchell College women's volleyball team kept up their red hot play on Saturday night, winning their third straight match by sweeping Mass. Maritime 3-0 at Clean Harbors Athletic Center. 

Olivia DeLoach paced the Mariners (6-2 overall) with a game-high 11 kills, while also adding 10 digs. Freshman Julia Lent added a match-high 11 digs, and Claire Binfield dished out 21 assists. Binfield, a senior setter, has now registered over 20 or more assists in six of Mitchell's eight games this season. Allison Blum also had another strong performance, racking up eight kills, seven digs, and five assists. 

The Mariners went up early in the first set and didn't look back. After a Blum kill broke a 4-4 tie, Mitchell led the rest of the way.

Mitchell carried the momentum into the second set, leading narrowly at first before the Buccaneers knotted the score at 12 with a service ace. The Mariners responded by scoring the next four points to pull ahead, with kills by DeLoach and Molly Steel-Miller leading the way. A Mitchell service error followed, which trimmed the Mass. Maritime deficit to four, but that is as close as they would come as the Mariners maintained their healthy lead and iced the set on a kill by Steel-Miller.

The third set was tight early with the Mariners and Buccaneers tied 9-9 heading to the midway point. Mitchell once again shifted into a higher gear, scoring nine of 10 points to comfortably take the lead. The Mariners took three of the last four points in the set to complete the straight set sweep. 

Shayla Narodowg led Mass. Maritime with six kills, while Izabella Mackintosh, Marlo Stark, and Chloe Johnson had three kills apiece. Stack added a team-high 10 digs and Keira Whalen had 18 assists for the Buccaneers. 

Mitchell has now won six of their last seven matches after dropping their season opener to the Coast Guard Academy. The Mariners will carry that momentum into Tuesday (September 21st), when they travel to Willimantic for a showdown with Eastern Connecticut State University.