BOSTON, Mass. – Freshman middle hitter Raeann Nesta (Niantic, Conn.) recorded a match-high 13 kills to lead the Simmons College volleyball team past Emmanuel College, 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-18), Tuesday evening at the Jean Yawkey Center. With the victory, the Sharks propel past the Saints in the GNAC standings to improve to 16-13 overall and 7-3 in the GNAC while the loss drops EC to 12-16 and 6-4 in GNAC action.
Simmons got out to a fast start in the opening set behind strong play by their middle hitters. Senior Caroline Boyd (Hampden, Mass.) collected seven kills while hitting an impressive .778 in the set while Nesta put home five winner to pace the visitors to a 25-22 win.
The Sharks jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the second set, forcing Emmanuel to expend a timeout but it woke the Saints up as the hosts were able to recover and push ahead to a 9-5 lead following a by sophomore right side hitter Sarah Colby. A kill by Boyd evened the score back up at 11-11 and after the two squads traded points on several possessions, the Sharks took the lead for good following an Emmanuel attacking error to make it 15-14 in favor of Simmons. The Sharks would rattle off three more points in a row capped by a kill from freshman setter Kyla McCabe-Corrow (Madbury, N.H.) to make it 18-14 and force EC to use its final timeout. Unfortunately for the hosts, there would be no comeback on this occasion as the Sharks cruised to the 25-18 win to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Senior outside hitter Kelly Last (West Haven, Conn.) picked it up for the Sharks in the final set, swinging for six kills on eight attempts to help Simmons complete the sweep. The Sharks never trailed in the final frame, jumping ahead to a 3-0 lead behind the service of senior outside hitter Rachel Dufault (Westport, Mass.) and Emmanuel was never able to recover en route to the 25-18 score.
Boyd finished the match with 11 kills, as did freshman outside hitter Brittany Hill (Milford, Mass.), while McCabe-Corrow ran a balanced offensive show with 39 assists. Dufault paced the defensive front with a match-high 17 digs.
For the Saints, freshman outside hitter Danielle Rose collected a team-high 10 kills while freshman setter Shannon Dudley notched 12 assists. Sophomore setter Alison Donnelly chipped in with 10 helpers while sophomore outside hitter Christine Durkee was solid in the back row with 12 digs. Senior Yun-Ting Lee also was in double figures with 10 digs in the effort.
Emmanuel will return to action on Thursday when they travel to Wheaton College for a 7:00 PM non-conference matchup while the Sharks are back on Saturday when they wrap up their regular season with a GNAC double-header against Albertus Magnus and Lasell College starting at 10:00 AM.