Volleyball Falls to WPI 3-1 in Home Opener

PAXTON, Mass.—The Anna Maria College women's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to the visiting Engineers of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) on Tuesday evening's non-conference action at Fuller Gymnasium.

The loss marks the first on the season for the AMCATS, who fall to 2-1, while the win boosts the Engineers to 3-2.

The Engineers took the first two games by scores of 25-23 and 25-17 before the AMCATS rallied for a 25-20 win in the third game. The Engineers sealed the match victory with a 25-13 win in game four.

The AMCATS were led offensively by junior middle Jessica Goulet (Lawrence, Mass.) with nine kills. Junior setter Samantha Parker (Athol, Mass.) dished out a team-best 19 assists and had an exceptional day serving, as she totaled four services aces in 19 attempts without recording an error.

Defensively, senior Jacqueline Clinton (Walpole, Mass.) had a match-high 21 digs, while junior Brittany Jackson (Larchmont, N.Y.) aided the efforts with 19 digs.

WPI had three different players reach double-digits in kills, led by Sam Bircsak's (Acton, Mass.) match-high of 14. Jenny Wallace (Holden, Mass.) chipped in with 13, while Melissa Daigle (Norfolk, Mass.) added 10. WPI setter Shay Feeley (Franklin, Mass.) finished with a match-high 36 assists, while Kelly Rathje (Scituate, Mass.) paced the defense with 20 digs.

Wallace also had a strong performance on the serve, totaled five service aces in 22 attempts.

The AMCATS totaled 11 kills with just two errors in the third set to record a .321 hitting percentage. Anna Maria hit .024 through all four sets. The Engineers totaled a match hitting percentage of .105 with a game-high of .184 in the second game.

Anna Maria will return to action on Thursday, September 4^th in a 7:00 p.m. non-conference game at Mass. Maritime.