Boston, MA --- WPI volleyball traveled to Boston and brought home a non-conference victory over Simmons in four sets with game scores of 25-17, 22-25, 25-20 and 25-23, on Friday night in Holmes Sport Center.
With the win, WPI evens its record to 2-2 on the season as the hosting Sharks drop to 0-5 this fall.
The Engineers started out strong in the first set rallying to an 8-2 lead with kills from
Anastasia Kelnik (Fair Lawn, NJ),
Emily Hudson (Melrose, MA) and
Preslie Jerebker (Denver, CO) and a service ace by
Victoria Escuer (Caracas, Venezuela). Just a few points later, the Crimson and Gray compiled a seven-point run including kills by
Lily Eldridge (Danvers, MA) an ace by Preslie to take a commanding 15-4 lead. Two kills by Simmons'
Zoe Chatterton (Portland, OR) and
Hannah Pridgeon (Winter Garden, FL) kicked off a comeback for the hosts as Pridgeon then added a trio of aces to bring the match to 18-12. WPI's Hudson added three kills to help slow down the Sharks before Jerebker and Kelnik added a few more successful attacks to extend the lead back to double digits. Chatterton,
April Beatty (Rochester, NH) and
Emily Ibarra (Downey, CA) added final strikes but the Crimson and Gray closed out the set 25-17.
Simmons battled back in the second set with its match-high 13 kills with four- and five-point runs to maintain a steady lead as Chatterton posted five kills to pace the Sharks' second-set success.
Zeala VanDamme (San Diego, CA) kicked off a five-point run for the Engineers and joined forces with Jerebker for a block to help bring the set within one point at 20-21 before the hosts held off WPI, 25-22.
The third set featured back-and-forth action as the match stayed within a three-point margin until the Sharks took advantage of a few Engineer attack errors and added on a couple aces to give Simmons the largest lead of the set at 15-10. Stroupe, Kelnik, Hudson, VanDamme and Jerebker all tooks turns on the attacking end rallying off eight kills counting for WPI's next 8-of-10 points to build a 20-17 lead. Stroupe led the push to close out the third set with three kills and a block assist as WPI took set three 25-20 to regain the match lead heading into the fourth stanza.
The fourth and final set was the closest of the night as WPI and Simmons exchanged the lead nine times. The hosts looked to even the match with a strong start with three- and five-point runs to mark a 10-6 advantage over the visitors. Chatterton accounted for six kills to lead the offense for Simmons as WPI recorded seven kills by four different Engineers that included an 8-0 run to erase a 13-18 deficit and retake the lead at 20-18. Attack errors gave Simmons another chance as a Chatterton kill and Pridgeon service ace marked a 20-22 lead for the hosts. VanDamme and Jerebker added the final kills to help the Engineers close out the match with a 25-23 fourth set result.
Eldridge doled a match-high in assists with 36 of the team's 46, VanDamme posted six blocks on the night of the team's 11 total as Escuer rounded out the defensive efforts with 17 digs.
Both teams will enjoy a few days off before returning to action on Thursday, September 12 for non-conference matches as WPI head to Worcester State and Simmons will head to Newport to square off with Salve Regina.
