WORCESTER -- The WPI volleyball team rallied to win a thrilling 3-2 match against Eastern Connecticut State at home in Harrington Auditorium on Saturday. The Engineers took the win with set scores of 17-25, 25-13, 23-25, 25-21, and 15-11, to improve to 3-5 overall. The Warriors dip to 5-3 with the setback.
WPI was led by a 13-kill performance from
Emily Hudson (Melrose, MA), who hit .400 in the match with three blocks.
Catherine Reynolds (Concord, NH) and
Olivia Deckers (Marlboro, MA) each contributed double-doubles in the winning effort, with Reynolds putting up 12 kills and 11 digs, and Deckers adding 11 kills and 13 digs.
Lily Eldridge (Danvers, MA) smashed her career high by dishing out 45 assists while adding seven digs.
Defensively,
Victoria Escuer (Caracas, Venezuela) led all players with 21 digs, while
Jia Yazon (South Windsor, CT) had three aces and
Zeala VanDamme (San Diego, CA) had five blocks.
For ECSU,
Taylor Thompson (West Point, NY) led the Warriors with 13 kills, while
Brooke Praskievicz (Moodus, CT) notched a double-double with 12 kills and 19 digs.
Haley Jo Bridges (Montebello, NY) chipped in with nine kills and six digs, while
Liz Squier (Trevor, WI) led the squad with 20 assists, adding 11 digs for a double-double.
Cassie Parmelee (East Berlin, CT) tied for team-high honors with 19 digs and
Stacie Kinlen (Thornwood, NY) added 11.
The Warriors offense cruised in the first set, hitting .296 to WPI's .067. Still, the early action was tight, with the teams splitting the first 14 points for a 7-7 tie. ECSU created some separation with an 8-2 run to go up 15-9. That six point deficit was as close as the Engineers would come the rest of the way, as the visitors won set one, 25-17.
The script was reversed in the second frame, as WPI tied it up with a .286 offensive performance, holding the Warriors to a .000 clip. The Engineers nabbed the first two points of the set but the action settled at a 7-7 tie. From there, WPI rattled off a 7-1 run to break it open, going up 14-8. After ECSU closed the gap to five, the Crimson and Gray rolled down the stretch, closing out a 25-13 win that tied the match at 2-2.
In the third, Eastern Connecticut had an early advantage in the tight frame, leading by four at 10-6. WPI used a 6-2 surge to tie the frame at 12 and continued the hot-hitting with four more unanswered points to lead 16-12. The Engineers kept the lead until a 5-2 run from the Warriors tied the match at 19-19. Six points later at a 22-22 tie, ECSU made one more push, closing the frame on a 3-1 run, winning it on a service error, 25-23 to go up 2-1.
Another tight set followed, but WPI forced a fifth set with a 25-21 win. Tied at 8-8, WPI inched ahead with a Deckers kill to end a short run that made it 12-9. After ECSU cut it to a one-point lead, the hosts surged again, winning seven of the next nine to make it 19-13. The Warriors whittled the WPI lead down to 22-20 late in the frame, but the Engineers pulled out the 25-23 win to tie the set at 2-2.
In the fifth, WPI jumped out to a 4-1 advantage, but Eastern Connecticut won six of the next nine to tie it at 7-7. The visitors used a 3-1 run to take their first lead of the set on an ace at 10-8, but WPI scored back-to-back points to make it 10-10. From there, the Engineers took over, closing out the set and match with a 5-1 run to win it 15-11, and 3-2.
WPI goes on the road on Tuesday, playing its conference opener at Clark at 7pm, while ECSU has a non-conference tilt on Tuesday at Western New England, also at 7pm.
