PROVIDENCE, R.I. - First year outside hitter Morgan Weeg (Goodyear, Ariz.) posted her sixth double-double of the season to lead the Simmons College women's volleyball team in a 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-21) loss to host Johnson & Wales University tonight in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference match at the Wildcat Center in Providence, R.I. The Sharks fall to 4-7 overall and 1-2 in league play, while the Wildcats remain undefeated at 14-0 and 4-0.
Johnson & Wales hit .318 for the match, including a torrid .619 in the opening set. The Wildcats' defense was also a factor with seven total blocks and 62 digs.
Weeg put down 12 kills and picked up 10 digs for Simmons, while senior middle blocker Abby Hart (Westfield, Mass.) hit .385 for the contest with six kills and added a pair of blocks. First year setter Kenna McCarthy (Shelter Island, N.Y.) just missed a double-double with 20 assists and nine digs, while senior libero Alex Itasaka (Bradford, Mass.) scooped up 13 digs.
Sophomore middle hitter Emily Kalmink (Byron Center, Mich.) and first year middle blocker Kate Walker (Oakland, Calif.) led the Wildcat offense with 11 kills each. Kalmink also added six blocks and Walker hit .588 to lead the top attacking team in the country. First year setter Brylee Frank (Palm City, Fla.) had 37 assists and nine digs. First year libero Gianna Esposito (Larkspur, Calif.) was one of four players with nine or more digs with her match-high 16. First year outside hitter Maria Coniglio (Old Bethpage, N.Y.) added 14 digs and classmate Elizabeth Hamilton (Canton, Mass.) recorded 13.
Johnson & Wales breezed to a first-set victory, but the Sharks fought back in the second set as they took a 10-8 lead on a McCarthy kill. From there, however, it was all JWU as serving runs from Monica Cordova (Jersey City, NJ), Hamilton and Coniglio put the set out of reach.
A Weeg kill gave Simmons a 20-17 lead in the third set, but the Wildcats stormed back to finish off the Sharks. A Kalmink kill started an 8-1 JWU run to end the match.
The Sharks return to the court on Saturday, October 1 when they host Emerson College at 3:00 p.m. and Plymouth State University at 7 p.m. at Moore Gymnasium, while Johnson & Wales travels to Bristol, R.I. on the same day to face Worcester State University at 1:00 p.m. and host Roger Williams University at 3:00 p.m.