WORCESTER -- Victoria Pastor (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) smashed 13 kills without making an error en route to .542 to propel Clark to a 3-0 triumph over host WPI in the NEWMAC volleyball season opener for both squads Tuesday evening inside Harrington Auditorium.  The Cougars took the match by set scores of 25-11, 25-15, 25-20.
 
With the result Clark improves to 7-4 overall and 1-0 in conference action while the Engineers slip to 5-6 on the season and 0-1 in NEWMAC play.
 
The visitors kicked off the first set with a strong offensive attack recording 14 kills from seven different Cougars as they hit .367 as a squad in the opening stanza. Pastor got the visitors on their first run with a pair of kills in addition to an ace by Yumeng Liu (Beijing Shi) and an Isabella Alcott (Maple Grove, MN) so put Clark up 9-5. The Cougars posted a seven-point run kickstarted by Pastor with a few kills and a block Winfred Gakidis (Buzzards Bay, MA) and Camilie Flurry (Athens, GA) all chipped in with blocks to erupt to a 17-5 lead. Lily Eldridge (Danvers, MA), Anastasia Kelnik (Fair Lawn, NJ) and Fiona Gillis (Manchester, NH) were the trio of Engineers to post kills in the first set.
 
Clark kicked off the second stanza with a 5-0 run guided by Sterling, Sofia Scherrer del Llano (Guayna, PR) and Alcott kills. WPI closed the gap after a Zeala VanDamme (San Diego, CA) kill and a block with Kelnik a few errant attacks by Clark before Eldridge, Gillis and an Emily Hudson (Melrose, MA)-Gillis block brought the match to 14-11. The visitors then took off on another 6-0 run and before closing out the set 25-15.
 
The Engineers and Cougars battled back-and-forth until the visitors jumped out to their largest lead of the set at 24-17. The Crimson and Gray as Audrey Stroupe (Leesburg, MA) and Gillis added two kills each late in addition to a few errant attacks brought the contest to 24-20 before Clark's Sterling served the final kill to clinch the sweep over the hosts.
 
WPI hosts a tri-match on Saturday, facing Emerson in a NEWMAC matchup at 11am and Framingham State in a non-conference tilt at 3pm. Clark takes on Smith in a home NEWMAC affair on Saturday at 1pm.