Worcester, MA --- Senior classmates Kerrin Beovich (Seaford, NY) and Belinda Nwagbara (Santa Rosa, CA) combined to hit .429 with 25 kills to lift host WPI to a hard-earned 3-1 NEWMAC volleyball victory on Tuesday evening. The Engineers claimed the important conference win by scores 25-18, 25-14, 23-25, 25-18.
The Crimson and Gray, winners of five straight matches overall, up their record to 16-6 on the season and 3-4 in conference play. Clark is now 8-12 and 1-6 in NEWMAC action.
After WPI took the opening two sets while never trailing, Clark came storming back to grab set three and held a 10-8 advantage in the fourth set before the Engineers rattled off nine straight, including eight off Jenny Wallace's (Holden, MA) serve. The spurt featured a pair of aces from the freshman and two kills each by Nwagbara and Holly Ganser (Seward, AK) to secure the set and subsequent match victory.
Nwagbara totaled 13 kills while Beovich tallied 12 while only making one error in 20 attempts. Elyssa Dorenfeld (Reading, MA) contributed eight kills while Bailey Sarber (Westerly, RI) and Gander each chipped in with four.
The Engineers had two players reach double figures in assists with Alyssa Fidanza (Ellington, CT) and Alex Rangel (Weston, FL) doling out 34 and 10 helpers respectively. Lauren D'Angelo (Wallingford, CT) pace all players with 23 digs.
Shannon Glass-Smythe (Albuquerque, RI) led the Cougar attack swatting a game-best 14 kills. Mel Conde (Union City, CA) and Anne Read (Arundel, ME) aided the Clark offensive attack by combining for 11 kills. Rachel Spear (North Hollywood, CA) distributed a team-high 22 assists for the visitors while Katie Freaney (Old Lyme, CT) registered 13 digs.
WPI is back on the court this Thursday as it heads to Newton for a 7pm non-conference match against Lasell. Clark returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Newbury for a tri-match against the host Nighthawks and Southern Vermont.
