Seahawks fall to Gulls in semis
NEWPORT, R.I. – The Endicott women's volleyball team redeemed a 3-1 loss to Salve Regina earlier this season with a 3-1 victory over the Seahawks in the semifinal round of the Commonwealth Coast Conference championship tournament, Thursday evening. The Gulls won by set scores of 25-22, 21-25, 25-13, 25-23.
With the victory, Endicott will move on to face the no. 1 seeded Roger Williams in the conference championship match on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 19-13 in the first set, the Seahawks scored six-straight points behind the serving of junior Dianna Tauro (Melrose, Mass.). Junior Jennifer Duggan (Merrimack, N.H.) kicked off the run with one of her 12 kills in the match. The two teams traded a pair of points to keep the game knotted at 21-21 before the Gulls closed out the set with a 4-1 run behind the serving of senior Callie Dolan (Westford, Mass.) and freshman Erika Trudon (Coventry, Conn.).
Salve Regina raced out to a 12-7 lead to open the second set before junior Taylor Violet (Tiverton, R.I.) served four-straight points to push the Seahawk lead to 17-8. The Gulls fought back and used a 11-6 run to pull within four at 22-19 but a kill from Duggan closed out the set 25-21 in favor of the Seahawks and forced at least a fourth set.
Sophomore Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) opened the third set with seven-straight points to give Endicott a commanding 7-0 lead. After a Salve Regina time out, Duggan got the Seahawks on the board with her first kill of the set and give Violet the ball at the service line. Violet served four straight to cut the Gull lead to 7-4. The two teams traded points before the Gulls used a 6-1 run to take the lead 15-6. Freshman Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) and sophomore Mackenzie Guerre (Carlsbad, Calif.) each served four-straight points to push the Gulls lead to 24-9. The Seahawks would not go quietly, however, and rallied for four straight points to cut the lead to 24-13, but a kill from VandeMerkt ended the set 25-13.
With the score tied 10-10 to open the fourth set, the Gulls used a 6-2 run to take a 16-12 lead and what seemed like control of the final set. Salve Regina answered with a 6-2 run of its own to take the lead, 19-18 behind Duggan's serving. Endicott used a 4-3 sprint to tie the game at 22-22 before the teams traded points to bring the score to 23-23. After a kill from Dolan to give the Gulls their first match point, Guerre ended the match for Endicott at the service line, 25-23.
Dolan had match-high 15 kills while Trudon led the defense with match-high 28 digs for the Gulls. VandeMerkt handed out 41 assists in the four-set match.
Senior Clare Adams (New Concord, Ohio) had a team-high 13 kills with Duggan close behind with 12. Tauro and Adams controlled the defense for Salve Regina with 22 and 21 digs, respectively. Violet dished out 34 assists in the match.
Salve Regina moves to 25-4 on the season and will await the ECAC tournament announcement for its opponent.