WESTON, Mass. – Regis College outlasted Mitchell College, 3-1, on Wednesday night in the New England Collegiate Conference Women's Volleyball Quarterfinals held in Weston, Mass. The #3 seeded Pride used set scores of 26-24, 25-19, 22-25, and 28-26 to defeat the No.6-seeded Mariners.
Regis (14-16) advances to the semifinals on Friday afternoon at Southern Vermont College where they take on No. 2 seed Newbury College. Mitchell wraps up its season at 6-16 overall.
In the first set, the Pride jumped out to an early 11-5 lead on a Mitchell error, prompting a Mariner timeout. Mitchell responded to the break in action by going on a 7-1 run that tied the score at 12-all on a Pride error. The two teams traded points before Regis took advantage of an Amanda Garcia (New Britain, Conn.) attack error to take an 18-15 lead. The Mariners responded again, this time going on an 8-2 run capped off by a Nicole Caminiti (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) service ace that forced a Regis timeout with the score 23-20.
The Pride rattled off three-straight kills by Megan Pratt (Rockland, Mass.), Vanessa Noesi (Methuen, Mass.) and Jackie Silver (West Hills, Calif.) to tie it at 23-all. After a Mitchell timeout, Samantha Bliss (Framingham, Mass.) nailed a service ace to set the Pride up with match point at 24-23. A Pride error tied the game at 24-all before back-to-back kills by Noesi and Julie Endara (Boca Raton, Fla.) sealed the first game, 26-24.
The second set started the same as Regis grabbed an early 8-3 lead following a pair of kills by Jackie Silver. Regis stretched it to 10-3, but Mitchell fought its way back into the game on several Pride errors to make it a 13-12 game after a Nicole Terni (Montville, Conn.) service ace. The Pride responded this time with four quick points to take an 18-13 lead. The Mariners hung around, but could never cut the lead to less than five as Regis took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-19 win in game two.
Mitchell took advantage of some sloppy play by Regis to open the third game as they took a 14-8 lead on a kill by Arianna Thomas (Fresno, Calif.). Regis chipped away and following back-to-back errors by the Mariners, only trailed 19-17 before a Mitchell timeout. The Mariners scored four of the next six points to take a 23-19 lead and after another Thomas kill, were one point away from taking game three. The Pride almost came back on a pair of errors by Mitchell and a Marilia Ramos (Chimbote, Peru) service ace, but Ramos' last serve of the game sailed long, giving Mitchell the 25-22 win.
As they had done in the first two sets, Regis jumped out to an early lead and led 10-6 following an Endara service ace. Mitchell wasted no time responding as a quick 8-0 run left the Mariners on top, 14-10. Regis slowly chipped away and tied the match at 15 before a Mitchell kill gave the Mariners an 18-16 lead. The Pride responded with a short 4-1 burst capped off by a pair of Sara Gold (North Hollywood, Calif.) service aces to give the Pride a 20-19 lead.
Regis took a 23-20 lead following a Mitchell error, but could not put away the Mariners as they rallied to take a 24-23 advantage on a kill by Amanda Garcia (New Britain, Conn.). The teams traded points before a Mitchell error tied it at 26-all. A kill by Megan Pratt gave the Pride a 27-26 edge and Vanessa Noesi buried her eighth kill of the day off a pass from Ramos that sealed the match, 28-26.
The Pride were led by a match-high 13 kills from Megan Pratt, while Noesi posted eight of her own and four blocks. Julie Endara and Jackie Silver added seven kills apiece, while Olivia Foley (Andover, Mass.) chipped in with six kills of her own. Marilia Ramos dished out a match-high 34 assists and added 12 digs, while Sarah Gold led the Pride defense with 33 digs on the night.
The Mariners were paced by 11 kills and 15 digs from Arianna Thomas. Gloria Charles (New Haven, Conn.) and Amanda Garcia added eight kills apiece as well. Nicole Terni handed out 32 assists and added 19 digs, while libero Kaisea Caramante (Old Lyme, Conn.) led the Mariners defense with 24 digs.