By Alex Solari, Staff Writer
UMass Dartmouth’s women’s volleyball started off the week with a disheartening loss, but were able to turn it around for their big victory on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the women’s volleyball team faced Eastern Connecticut State University’s Warriors on the UMass Dartmouth court. The Warriors started out with a big lead, with a 25-13 victory in the first set. In this set, there were also six reception errors by UMass Dartmouth, which made the Warriors lead even more visible.
The Corsairs started to work against the Warriors, and were able to tie the game at three, due to block assists from freshman Taila Roberson and senior Kayla Kirby. Soon after though, ESCU senior Adrianna Mihalek serve paced her team to five straight points, and the team was able to keep their lead for the rest of the set. The set finished with a score of 25-16, with four kills from junior ESCU student Caryn Sibiskie.
In the third set, UMass Dartmouth was able to make a comeback, dominating the first part of the set. Freshman Jordan Rittberger was a large reason for this, helping her team start the set 4-0 with her three service aces, but two-straight attack errors put the Warriors back in the lead with a 11-4 advantage.
The set seemed to be able to go either way, but Mihalek and Sibiskie of the Warriors made back to back kills which resulted in a 20-18 score in ESCU’s favor. Mihalek was able to make two more kills, including the game-tying point at 22-all, before ESCU were able score three more points to end the night with a 3-0 win.
Despite the loss on Tuesday, UMass Dartmouth was able to come back in full force against Mount Ida College on the Corsair’s court on Wednesday.
The Mount Ida Mustang started out strong with a 25-15 lead in the first set, with14 kills opposed to UMass Dartmouth’s nine. The Corsairs were able to turn this around though, with players like freshman Anita Sengara who was able to convert six of her 10 attempts and help her teammates achieve a 25-20 win in the second set.
In the start of the third set, the Mustangs were able to start with a 3-0 lead. At a score of 12-15, Corsair Nicole Silverman was able to record two aces, and the Corsairs were able to gain a 17-15 advantage. The Mustangs were able to even the score twice after this, but ultimately due to Corsair freshman Jillian Sykora, whose serve forced five-straight attack errors by Mount Ida, the Corsairs had a 25-21 win.
Finally, the Corsairs were able to win the last set, with the help of sophomore Olivia Wallett who had six kills on ten attempts. The set was tight, with neither team able to lead more than four. But, with Silverman’s eight assists, including two in the last three points to Sengara and Emily West, the Corsairs were able to win this set 25-23, and won the game 3-1.
The Women’s Volleyball team will be back at it on Tuesday, October 18 against Nichols College at UMass Dartmouth, on the 20th against St. Josephs College at home again, and on Saturday, October 22nd against Western Connecticut State University on the WCSU court.