AUBURNDALE, Mass. - The Regis (Mass.) women's volleyball team has been eliminated from the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Tournament after the fifth-seeded Pride was swept by fourth-seeded Lasell (25-9, 25-22, 25-16) on Wednesday night at the Lasell Athletic Center in the conference quarterfinals.
With the win, the Lasers improve to 15-19 and advance to the GNAC Semifinals, where they will face the top-seeded Wildcats of Johnson & Wales University, who swept Mount Ida College in other GNAC Quarterfinal action on Tuesday evening. The Pride's season comes to a close with a record of 12-16.
The Lasers dominated set number one by a score of 25-9 to take an early 1-0 lead on the evening. Thanks to three kills from senior Michele Canestro (Castleton, N.Y.) and two from junior Olivia Addington (Orange, Calif.), Lasell started the match on a 13-2 run to take the Pride out of the set early. Regis only managed four kills in the set, led by MacKenzie Emco with two.
The second set of the evening was much tighter than the first, but it was again the Lasers that came out on top, this time by a score of 25-22. The teams traded runs in the middle set, but it was the Lasers who got the all-important final run as the teams neared 25. A kill from Pride senior Nicole Connolly (San Mateo, Calif.) capped a 5-1 Regis run to put the visitors in front 18-17, but the Lasers responded coming out of a timeout. The Lasers went on a 6-1 run of their own to go ahead 23-19, all but putting away the set. The Pride would battle back to make the score 24-22, but an attack error would give the Lasers a commanding two-set lead.
The third set appeared to be headed toward a tight finish at the midway point, before Lasell pulled away for good late in the set. Ahead 11-10 in the set, the Lasers would go on a 9-1 run to go ahead 20-11. The Pride started to come back ripping off three straight points, but an overturned call that went against Regis took the wind out of the team's sails and the Lasers took advantage. A few points later, a kill by Canestro clinched the match and ended the Pride's season.
The Pride struggled offensively all evening, with just 21 kills and an attack percentage of -.039 on the evening. Regis was led offensively by Shay Faber (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), who finished the night with five kills and eight assists. Addington, who recorded her 1,000th career kill for Lasell's first point of the third set, and freshman Mickayla Shelburn (Waterford, Conn.) led the way for the Lasers with 12 kills each.
#RegisWVB