Seahawks sweep CCC opener versus Gordon
NEWPORT, R.I. - Sophomore Taylor Violet (Tiverton, R.I.) stuffed the stat sheet with 20 assists, 6 digs, five kills, and two aces to spark the Salve Regina University women's volleyball team to an impressive 3-0 victory over Gordon College during its Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opener at the Rodgers Recreation Center on Saturday afternoon. The win improves the Seahawks to 4-5 overall and 1-0 in the conference while the Scots drop to 5-4 on the season and 0-1 during CCC play.
Violet led the Seahawks with her fine all-around performance, while junior Jackie Cinquemani (East Islip, N.Y.) recorded a team-best seven kills on just 11 attacks. Sophomore Jennifer Duggan (Merrimack, N.H.) also played well, contributing five kills and a game-high five aces, while junior Clare Adams (New Concord, Ohio) led all players with 10 digs.
The Scots were paced by junior Lauren Kranyak (Locust Grove, Va.), who had a team-high seven kills and eight digs, while sophomore Joy Kimmel (Madison, Conn.) dished-out 14 assists in the loss.
The Seahawks held a slight 8-7 edge early in the first set before scoring six of the next seven points, including aces by Adams and sophomore Erin McGloin (West Islip, N.Y.) to open up a 14-8 advantage. The Scots were never able to recover from the run, as Duggan closed out the 25-15 first set win with a kill.
The second set was eerily similar, as the Seahawks were clinging to a 7-6 lead before then erupting for six straight points behind the serving of senior Sara Showalter (East Lyme, Conn.) who had two aces during the run to help the Seahawks take a 13-6 lead. Once again, the Seahawks didn't look back, ending the set on a 9-2 stretch, 25-11.
The Seahawks led 13-7 in the third set when the Scots battled back with four straight points to close the gap to 13-11. From there it was a tough back-and-forth affair, with Salve Regina managing to cling to an 18-16 advantage late in the frame. That's when the Seahawks turned it on, ending the set (25-16) and the match (3-0) with seven unanswered points including two kills by Cinquimani and a pair of aces by Duggan.
The Scots will look to bounce back against Wentworth on Tuesday, while the Seahawks will host Curry at 7 p.m. that same night.