Worcester, MA --- Belinda
Nwagbara (Santa Rosa, CA) notched 16 kills and six
digs as WPI Volleyball won both matches Saturday over visiting
Eastern Nazarene and Anna Maria in a non-conference tri-match. The
middle contest saw Anna Maria defeat Eastern Nazarene 3-1 to avenge
a 3-0 loss last week. With the day's results, WPI improves to 17-4
on the season, while Anna Maria moves to 6-13 and Eastern Nazarene
drops to 3-18.
WPI's balanced attack in the opener versus ENC was led by
Nwagbara, who notched six kills and four digs for
the Engineers. Alex
Rangel (Weston, FL) and Kim
Woodward (Clifton Park, NY) amassed a total of 23
assists, while Joan
Porambo (Jim Thorpe, PA) led the Crimson and Gray with
eight digs.
For Eastern Nazarene, Amber Burns (Fall River,
MA) paced the Lions with 10 digs and four kills. Rachel
Mun (Cambridge, MA) aided her team with six assists and
seven digs and Rebecca Shaw (Wareham, MA) blocked
two.
The first set against Eastern Nazarene saw the Engineers win
thirteen points on back-to-back rotations in the 25-14 win. WPI
scored the first 15 points of the second set, 14 on the serve of
Rangel en route to the 25-10 victory. Set three was closer as
Eastern Nazarene staved off four match points in the 25-18 WPI
win.
The middle match went four sets as Anna Maria downed Eastern
Nazarene 3-1 (25-15, 25-20, 12-25, 25-12). Anna Maria jumped out to
a 7-1 lead and took the first set 25-15. The second set was even at
17-17 when Anna Maria rattled off six straight points on its way of
taking the set 25-20. Eastern Nazarene leapt out to a 9-0 lead in
their lone set win of 25-12. In the fourth set, the AMCATS took an
8-0 lead and never looked back in the match-clinching set
25-12.
Anna Maria was led by Sandy Acosta (Lawrence,
MA) who amassed 12 kills, three digs, four blocks and an ace.
Amanda Glennon (Wollaston, MA) recorded 20
digs. Burns again paced Eastern Nazarene with 14 digs, eight
assists, and five kills. Mun dug out 16 attacks while Sam
Losano (Elverta, CA) registered eight assists and
Leann Williams (Oxford, PA) notched five kills.
Shaw recorded four aces and Cayla Clinkscale
(Winchendon, MA) made a pair of blocks.
WPI won the final match of the day over Anna Maria 3-0 (25-13,
25-16, 25-13). The Engineers were led by Nwagbara with 10 kills and
two digs. Rangel added 12 assists in the match. Lauren
D'Angelo (Wallingford, CT) and Porambo recorded five digs
apiece.
Glennon and Marie Barral (Worcester, MA)
notched ten digs each in the effort for the AMCATS.
The Engineers came out strong with a 5-0 lead in pursuit of the
first set win 25-13. In the second set, Anna Maria began with a 5-2
lead only to have WPI win the next five points to put the Crimson
and Gray ahead in the 25-16 victory. The final set of the
afternoon, WPI broke out of the close match as they went from an
8-7 lead to 13-7 in the 25-13 match-winner.
WPI returns to action Thursday when they travel to Mount Holyoke
for a 7pm NEWMAC contest. Eastern Nazarene hosts The Commonwealth
Coast Conference foe Endicott Wednesday night at 7pm. Anna Maria
entertains Becker in non-conference action Tuesday at 7pm.
Release by Mark Therrien - WPI Sports Information
