Gulls snap Seahawks streak in five sets, 3-2

BEVERLY, Mass.- Down two sets to one, the Endicott women's volleyball team was able to win a tight fourth set before squeaking out a  five set victory over Salve Regina on homecoming.  Endicott now stands at 2-2 in conference play as Salve suffers their first conference loss and drops to 3-1.

Salve was led offensively by Clare Adams (New Concord, Ohio) as the outside led the Seahawks with 14 kills.  Adams also collected 14 digs to record a double-double.  Senior libero Megan Clancy (Chelmsford, Mass.) led the defense with 23 digs as Jennifer Duggan (Merrimack, N.H.) picked up 21 of her own.  Taylor Violet (Tiverton, R.I.) recorded 40 assists and three aces.  Erin McGloin (West Islip, N.Y.) led the team with two solo blocks and three assist blocks.

Reigning CCC Rookie of the Week Mackenzie Guerre (Carlsbad, Calif.) was once again dominant as the middle went off for 18 kills on 41 attempts with only two errors.  Guerre hit .390 as she upped her season average to .291.  Fellow freshman Jackie Cone (Salem, N.H.) came off the bench to pitch in 17 kills as Callie Dolan (Westford, Mass.) tallied 11 of her own.  Freshman Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) spread out the offense by collecting 54 assists and running the offense to the tune of a .172 hitting percentage.  CCC Libero of the Week Ashley Norley (Sudbury, Mass.) again collected a match-high 31 digs as she averaged 6.2 digs/set. 

The first set was tight at the end as Salve was able jump out to 16-7 advantage before eventually taking it 20-25.  Set two saw Endicott grab the victory 25-17, before Salve took the third by that same score, 17-25.  With their back to the walls on Homecoming, Endicott put its faith in Mackenzie Guerre and let the middle set the tone offensively.  With the defense of Ashley Norley allowing Alleigh VandeMerkt to spread the offense around, the Gulls were able to win the fourth set 25-21 before escaping the fifth with a come from behind 16-14 win.  

With Endicott down 13-14 in the fifth, VandeMerkt and Guerre teamed up as the middle crushed a one ball to tie the score at 14.  A Carly Beers (Traverse City, Mich.) serve resulted in a hitting error by Salve to advance the score to 15-14.  With Beers serving, Salve's Claire Adams got off an impressive hit that Jackie Cone dug for the Gulls.  VandeMerkt set the dig to Guerre who again beat the Salve defense to notch her 18th kill and get Endicott the 16-14 win.  

Endicott is now 6-9 overall and faces Trinity in Hartford, Conn. on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.  Salve is now 9-6 overall and takes on Eastern Nazarene at home on Tuesday at 7 p.m.