MILTON, Mass. – The Curry College women's volleyball team fell for the first time since September 7 as Salve Regina took a 3-0 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) victory on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Seahawks improve to 6-9 overall, with a 2-0 conference record. The Colonels fall to 0-1 in league play while their overall record moves to 10-4.
Salve started the day by building an 11-3 lead, but three straight Colonel kills pulled the hosts to within three at 11-8. Shortly later, after the Seahawks recorded three straight kills, a pair of Curry errors made the score 21-10. After a 6-3 run by Curry to make the score 24-16, Salve closed the set thanks to a kill by Andee Bender (Lebanon, Conn.).
Curry opened the second set by grabbing a brief 3-1 edge, but the Seahawks soon grabbed control and took a lead of their own at 12-5. The Colonels slowly cut into the lead, dropping the deficit down to two at 16-14, but Salve scored nine of the next 10 points to close out the second frame with a 25-15 win.
The Colonels took five of the first six points of the third set as they looked to avoid the sweep, but after ties at 1-1, 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, and 8-8, the Seahawks took the lead for good as kills by Bender and Katelyn O'Brien (Bridgeport, Conn.) gave the visitors a 13-8 advantage. This sparked a dominant 18-4 run for Salve, which gave them a 25-12 victory in the third set and a sweep of the match.
Bender hit .344 and turned in a match-high 14 kills in the win. Olivia Noonan (Rochester, N.H.) registered 16 helpers while Katie Linekin (Ridgefield, Conn.) recordede in 19 digs. Madison Lee (Dover, Fla.) collected four total blocks (1 solo, 3 assisted) for the Seahawks. Lex Bell (Salem, Conn.) led Curry with 20 digs, 14 assists, and a pair of aces, while Lexi Pereira (Attleboro, Mass.) and Amanda Wood (Tokyo, Japan) tied for the team lead with five kills each.
The Seahawks will stay in-conference as they host the Wentworth Institute of Technology on Wednesday, October 2 at 7:00 p.m. The Colonels will also return to the court on Wednesday night at 7 o'clock, as they travel to take on the Golden Bears of Western New England in CCC action.
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