Box Score BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Women's Volleyball team rolled to its ninth straight victory Friday evening, notching a 3-0 win over Commonwealth Coast Conference opponent Endicott College.
The match began in Endicott's favor, with the Gulls jumping out to a 4-0 lead. A swinging error by the Hawks later gave the Gulls largest lead, a 9-4 advantage. The tide would turn on the next play, an Endicott service error. From there, the Hawks rolled off a 9-1 run, capped off by a kill by
Sarah McAniff (Redding, Conn.) to put RWU on top 13-10. The Gulls remained in striking distance throughout the rest of the set, including pulling back within one (19-20) on three consecutive Hawk attack errors. Yet RWU closed out the set scoring five of the next seven points, with McAniff notching the set-ending kill to make it 25-21.
In the second set, the Hawks came out on fire, racing off to an 8-1 lead to begin the game. The Gulls struggled early on, giving eight of RWU's first 16 points via block error, reception error, or attack error. At that point, the Hawks held a 16-6 advantage and appeared to be headed towards a quick 2-0 lead, but the Gulls made a later charge. Trailing by as many as 12 (9-21), Endicott was able to pull within four on a kill by Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) to make it a 19-23 game. That would be as close as Endicott would get, with RWU taking the next two points for the win.
The third set was fairly close early on with three ties over the first 12 points. With the score knotted at six apiece, the Hawks managed to slowly pull away from Endicott, taking a 15-9 lead. The Gulls' Lauren Sheehan (Bainbridge, Wash.) would put away a point to get Endicott within three, making it 13-16. However, the Hawks would shut down EC's offense, closing out the match on a 9-1 run to take the match.
Brittany McMullen (Lancaster, Pa.) led the Hawks with 13 kills, while McAniff,
Elizabeth Flaherty (Sloatsburg, N.Y.),
Andrea Gorman (Wilbraham, Mass.), and
Kristen Boyer (Ephrata, Pa.) added five kills apiece.
Josalyn Benson (Phoenix, Ariz.) handed out 29 assists, while
Maria Batas (Merrick, N.Y.) had 19 digs.
Hayley Knapp (Valencia, Calif.) had a team-high six kills for Endicott, while Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) finished with 18 assists and nine digs. Erika Trudon (Coventry, Conn.) added 12 digs and a service ace.
Roger Williams (10-4, 3-0 CCC) takes on Mount Holyoke at Salve Regina tomorrow, while Endicott (9-8, 1-1 CCC) heads to Wentworth Institute of Technology on Tuesday.
