BOSTON, Mass. – Regis College rallied from a significant deficit in the deciding set of its first Great Northeast Athletic Conference match of 2019, but Lasell prevailed, 3-2 (25-22, 10-25, 25-22, 23-25, 15-12), and then Simmons defeated the Pride, 3-0 (25-3, 25-20, 25-14), Saturday afternoon in women's collegiate volleyball action at Moore Gymnasium.
Lasell 3, Regis 2
Katryna Veasey (Quincy, Mass.) led the Pride with 15 kills and 15 digs, while Lauren Butt (Topsfield, Mass.) earned 14 kills on 19 attempts with just one error for a .684 hitting percentage. Valerie Whalen (Stoughton, Mass.) added 11 kills as the setters spread the offense, with Tori Ondris (Mineola, N.Y.) earning 24 assists, five service aces, and eight digs, and Emily Fagundo (Dover, N.H.) adding 20 assists. Libero Mica van der Meulen (Colorado Springs, Colo.) contributed 14 digs and six service aces.
Lasell (4-8, 2-2 GNAC) won the first six points of the match on consecutive kills by Kiana Perez Diaz and back-to-back service aces by Jess Langan. Regis battled back, putting together a 7-2 scoring run, capped by consecutive aces by van der Meulen, to pull ahead, 14-13. Down 19-15, the Lasers closed out the first set with a 10-3 scoring run, featuring three straight kills by Meg Roberts.
Regis scored five of the first six points of the second set, and then extended its lead to 14-5 with six unanswered points. The Pride would close out the set with an 11-2 scoring run, led by three kills from Whalen and capped by a block from Butt and Julia Pelland (Brockton, Mass.).
The Lasers scored the first three points of the third set, and then scored four straight points midway through the set to increase their lead to 14-9. Regis again battled back, eventually tying the set at 21-21 on a kill by Rita Dow (Nashua, N.H.) and a service ace from Ondris. However, Lasell scored four of the final five points of the set, including kills by Perez Diaz and Juliana Denning.
The fourth set went back-and-forth, with 10 ties and several lead changes through the first 30 points of the set. Lasell pulled out to a 19-16 lead and then temporarily held off the Pride, taking a 23-19 advantage on a kill by Roberts. Regis would rally and score six straight points, including two kills by Dow, a kill and a solo block by Whalen, and two service aces from Ondris.
Lasell scored the first five points of the fifth set and held a 9-4 lead after a kill by Roberts. Once again, Regis responded to adversity, putting together a 7-1 scoring run, featuring consecutive aces by van der Meulen and a kill by Whalen, to take the lead at 11-10. The Lasers rallied with five of the final six points of the match, led by three kills from Perez Diaz.
Perez Diaz finished with 23 kills, six service aces, and 14 digs, while Roberts earned 12 kills and seven digs. Langan dished out 38 assists to go along with three service aces, and Karissa Gaughan contributed 12 digs to the Laser winning effort.
Simmons 3, Regis 0
Butt led the Pride against the Sharks with six kills on 14 attempts for a .429 hitting percentage along with three total blocks. However, it was obvious that the Pride had not fully recovered from the Lasell loss, as Simmons scored 13 of the first 14 points and then the final 12 points of the opening set, capped by a kill from Natalia Guerra.
Simmons (8-4, 2-0 GNAC) scored four of the first five points of the second set, but Regis fought back, tying the set at 5-5 on a block by Butt and Veasey. After the Sharks scored the next three points, the Pride battled to within one point five times in the set, the last time at 21-20 on kills by Butt and Samantha Silveira (East Taunton, Mass.), but Simmons won the final four points of the set.
Three straight service aces by Morgan Lauvray early in the third set put the home team ahead, 5-1, and then four unanswered points a little later extended the Shark lead to 10-4. Another Simmons run, this time 5-0, increased the Shark advantage into double figures, and the home team closed out the set and the match on a Regis service error.
Morgan Weeg led the Sharks with 17 kills, while Sydney Iannantuono finished with eight kills and a team-high 12 digs. Setter Faith Gray-Williams accumulated 32 assists, and Lauvray contributed five assists, six service aces, and 11 digs to the Simmons winning effort.
Regis (3-9, 0-2 GNAC) heads south to face Eastern Connecticut State Tuesday, Sept. 24, starting at 7 p.m. The Pride will then play two matches during Regis Fest next Saturday, Sept. 28, hosting St. Joseph (Conn.) at 1 p.m. and Albertus Magnus at 3 p.m.