Cardinals swoop past Seahawks

NEWPORT, R.I.-- The Salve Regina women's volleyball team challenged Wesleyan University (NESCAC) at the Rodgers Recreation Center Friday night, but fell 3-0 with a final score of 25-14, 25-12 and 25-19. 

The Cardinals came out of the gate with energy and while the first set was tied 2-2, kills from Mariko Tanaka, Bella Ahearn and Kathryn Morton contributed to a seven-point run for Wesleyan, which brought the score to 11-4 and the Cardinals took advantage of the opportunity.

The Seahawks fought back, and it took the Cardinals longer to establish a significant lead in the second set. Sydney Ramsey got Salve Regain on the board first, and an attack error by Wesleyan gave the Seahawks a two-point advantage. However, two bad sets and an attack error for Salve Regina gave Wesleyan the upper hand and they capitalized on the change in speed of the contest.

In the final set, the Seahawks rose to the challenge and got ahead early. The team went on a seven point run resulting from several Cardinal attack errors and kills from Siena DeCicco and Sydney Ramsey. It wasn't until the match reached 13-13 that Wesleyan began to pull away to the game-ending score of 25-19. 

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Salve Regina 0, Wesleyan 3
Record: Salve Regina (10-12), Wesleyan (16-1)
All-Time Series: It has been over ten years since the Seahawks and Cardinals faced off. Salve Regina has a 0-3 record against Wesleyan, however the most recent 3-1 loss was in 2012. 

NOTEWORTHY: 

• Siena DeCicco was the team leader in digs (10) and assists (17).
• Brighton Solheim drove the Seahawk kill (6) and block (1) efforts and followed suit behind DeCicco with eight digs. 
• Kate Murphy followed DeCicco and Solheim with seven digs and three assists. 
• As a team, Salve Regina had 25 kills and 119 total attempts.

THOUGHTS FROM COACH NOORDZY: 

"Wesleyan has a very good volleyball team. They kill you with the 'bend don't break' mentality. When you give your best, they are going to keep the ball alive and better the ball until they have an opportunity. We fell by making too many errors and we need to clean that up in order to compete at this level, but I'm confident that we'll be able to figure that piece out.

In the third set we were able to generate a lot more on the service line by putting more pressure on them. Our ball control was able to keep us in rhythm and we generated ten kills which, offensively, helped us to keep the game closer."  

ON THE HORIZON: 

The next match is on Tuesday, October 24 at 7 p.m. against the Wheaton Lyons. The Seahawks are 5-9 against the Lyons since the teams first contended in 2006.