BOSTON – Simmons volleyball (14-10, 8-3 GNAC) dropped a crucial Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) match to Lasell University, 3-1, on Tuesday evening.  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1: Lasell 25, Simmons 17
The Sharks looked sharp at the start of the match. Junior Kat Simeonidis opened with back-to-back kills as Simmons built an early lead. However, the set began to shift towards the Lasers midway through.

Back-to-back kills by Simeonidis gave the Sharks the three-point, 13-10, lead, but the lead evaporated. The Lasers rattled off three straight points to tie the set a 13 and swung momentum over to them with an 8-2 run to take a 20-15. And they never looked back, taking the set, 25-17. 

Set 2: Simmons 25, Lasell 13
Simmons has been in this position before, trailing 1-0 in the match, so they didn't let it faze them heading into the second set. They began the second set strong, jumping out to an early 11-4 lead to force Lasers head coach Jeff Vautrin to call his first time out.

The timeout did little too cool off red-hot Shark offense. They came out with 8-2 run, which included three kills from Simeonidis and a block huge block assist by Nalani Majkia and Jayla Parnell to take a 19-6 lead.

Hitting a staggering .424 with 16 kills on 33 attempts and just two errors, the Sharks evened up the match, taking the set in convincing fashion, 25-13. 

Set 3: Lasell 25, Simmons 14
Momentum appeared to have shifted back towards Simmons as they jumped out to 6-3 lead, capped off by a block assist by junior Claire Conners and sophomore Meghan Doxsee. They maintained their advantage when senior Sydney Iannantuono's kill gave them a four-point, 9-5, cushion, but that's when Lasell began to mount their comeback. 

Trailing by four, the Lasers turned the tables on the Sharks. Lasell gained their first lead of the setwith a 6-0 run that forced Sharks' head coach Pat Helmas to call his first time out of the set. While Sharks kept it close for the next seven points, the Lasers pulled away with another extended run to seal the third set and take a 2-1 match lead. 

Set 4: Lasell 25, Simmons 20
Utilizing a 7-1 run to take an 18-12 lead midway through the fourth set, the Sharks looked poised to send the match to a fifth set. But the Lasers had other ideas and battled their way back to pull within four points, 19-15, before the Sharks called a timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, momentum remained on the side of the Lasers. Sparked by a pair of service aces from Camila Lopez, Lasell went on another mini 5-0 run to take the 20-19 lead and never looked back.

SIMMONS HIGHLIGHTS

• Junior outside hitter Claire Conners posted a .359 attack percentage as she led the team with a 18 kills on 39 attempts with just four errors.
• Senior outside hitter Sydney Iannantuono followed up, hitting .308 with 11 kills on 26 attempts and just three errors.
• Junior setter Kat Simeonidis paced the offense with 34 assists, while registering four aces 

UP NEXT
Simmons will close out the regular season on Saturday, October 29 when they travel to West Hartford, Connecticut for a GNAC tri-match against Albertus Magnus College and the University of St. Joseph (Conn.) beginning at 1 p.m.