WORCESTER -- Anastasia Kelnik (Fair Lawn, NJ) and Fiona Gillis (Manchester, NH) combined for 21 kills to help the WPI volleyball team rally to defeat Nichols 3-1 in Engineers 2024 home debut Saturday afternoon inside Harrington Auditorium.  The hosts took the match by game scores of 23-25, 25-14, 25-21, 25-22.
 
WPI is now 1-1 on the season while the Bison begin their 2024 campaign with a 0-1 mark.  The triumph provided Engineers head coach Mickey Cahoon his first win guiding the Crimson and Gray.
 
The first set was a back-and-forth affair featuring 14 lead changes and four ties.  The Crimson and Gray had its final advantage of the set at 16-14 but five straight points, starting with a kill from Hailey Wright (Brighton, CO), who then served four consecutive scoring points for the Bison. Luna Colozzo (Winchester, MA) broke a 22-22 tie with a kill and an ace and then after a WPI point, the Bison took the set on a Engineer service error. 
 
WPI evened the match by hitting .341 in the second set with 15 kills - nine from Kelnik and Gillis - with just one error in 41 tries.  The other two sets were much closer with four lead changes in the third set and 10 in the fourth.  The Bison drew even at 22-22 in the fourth set but back-to-back kills by Emily Hudson (Melrose, MA) and Audrey Stroupe (Leesburg, VA).
 
Kelnik finished with 11 kills for the Engineers while Gillis totaled 10.  Lily Eldridge (Danvers, MA) paced all players by doling out 33 assists and adding 11 digs and a pair of blocks while Stroupe amassed seven kills and Zeala VanDamme (San Diego, CA) added six.  Victoria Escuer (Caracas, Venezuela) collected match-best and the junior and Eldridge were joined in double digit digs by Preslie Jerebker (Denver, CO) and Alana Harris (Lowell, MA).
 
Graduate outside hitter Hayley Granato (Manchester, CT) led the Bison attack with nine kills, alongside hitting .318 in the effort. Three total players scored double-digit digs for Nichols, led by junior Mairead Frost (Kingston, MA) with a career-high of 16, while Wright chipped in with 27 assists. 
 
WPI ventures over to Medford to compete with Tufts on Tuesday at 7pm, while Nichols faces off with Elms in its home opener on Tuesday at the same time.