DANBURY, Conn. - Sophomore outside hitter Morgan Weeg (Goodyear, Ariz.) and first year outside hitter Jarene Harberts (Naples, Fla.) combined for 74 kills in a pair of matches at the Colonial Classic hosted by Western Connecticut State University at Feldman Arena in Danbury, Conn. The Sharks fell in four sets to Wentworth Institute of Technology, 25-18, 25-21, 22-25, 25-19, before rebounding to defeat Pennsylvania State University-Berks, 24-26, 26-24, 25-9, 25-10. Simmons is now 2-2 on the season, while Wentworth is 4-0 and Penn. State-Berks is 0-4.
Weeg led a Sharks team that hit .256 as a team vs. Wentworth by hitting .341 on her own to fuel a 19-kill outing that saw her commit just five attack errors to support her landing on the All-Tournament Team. She added 10 digs for a double-double and fired a pair of aces and assisted on a block. Harberts committed three miscues, while putting down 14 kills and matching that total in digs to go with an ace. First year Faith Gray-Williams (Las Vegas, Nev.) scored from the service line with six aces and got down for 10 digs in addition to a block assist. First year libero Julia Fusco (Beverly, Mass.) proved to be steady on the defensive side of the net with 13 digs.
Weeg (20) and Harberts (21) both reached the 20-kill mark vs. Penn. State-Berks to mark the first time that Simmons teammates registered 20 or more kills in the same match since exactly a year ago when Weeg and current Assistant Coach Abby Hart did it vs. Colby-Sawyer College. SC hit .254 for the match and surrendered just 19 points in the final two sets to Penn. State-Berks.
Weeg hit .276 for the match, while Harberts hit a healthy .395. Harberts also came up with 18 digs and four total blocks, while Weeg picked up eight in addition to three block assists. First year Riley Roberge (Peoria, Ariz.) chipped in with seven kills on a .211 hitting mark and added a dig and a block solo, while Fusco added 22 more digs to her day and fired an ace. Gray-Williams turned in her second-consecutive six-ace performance to go with four kills, nine digs and four total blocks.
The Sharks return to action on Wednesday, September 6 when they host University of Massachusetts Dartmouth at Moore Gymnasium for a 7:00 p.m. start time.