No. 5 Volleyball Falls to No. 4 Emmanuel in GNAC Quarterfinal

BOSTON—The fourth-seeded Saints of Emmanuel College downed the No. 5 Anna Maria College AMCATS 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) volleyball tournament on Tuesday evening.

The Saints improve to 12-15 and advance to take on top-seeded Rivier on Thursday in the semifinals, while the AMCATS see their tournament dreams come to a close with a 17-15 overall record.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Saints took big wins in the first two sets, forcing the AMCATS into hitting errors while claiming back-to-back 25-15, 25-13 victories. Ann Maria totaled 20 kills and made 15 errors over the first two sets, while the Saints combined for 24 kills and just six errors.

The AMCATS turned things around in the third set and led for a majority of the early points, but the Saints took control for good at 15-14 and didn't look back as they quickly rattled off three-straight points on Cassie Chruscielski's serving to jump out to an 18-14 lead.

Anna Maria came within one point at 20-19 but they would be held to just one more point as Emmanuel took the 25-21 victory.

AMCAT LEADERS

Freshman Amari King (Lawrence, Mass.) paced the AMCATS with 12 kills and 13 digs. She was one of just four AMCAT hitters to finish with a positive efficiency—middle hitters Jessica Goulet (Lawrence, Mass.) and Telliah Bursie (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) both hit effectively in the middle while sophomore Rebecca Foti (Bedford, Mass.) squeaked by with four kills and three errors on the outside.

Goulet finished with seven kills followed by Bursie with five and Foti with four. As a team, the AMCATS totaled 25 errors and 29 kills for a .035 hitting percentage.

Defensively, the AMCATS saw a team-best 14 kills from freshman libero Carolina Garcia (Springfield, Mass.). King was next with 13, followed by senior setter Samantha Parker (Athol, Mass.) with 11. Parker also dished out 21 assists for the Anna Maria offense.

The team combined for just one block at the net, credited to Goulet and King.

EMMANUEL LEADERS

The Saints totaled 36 kills and just 13 errors, using their .205 hitting efficiency to earn the victory. Chruscielski and Danielle Rose both finished with seven kills, while Brittany Tutalo finished with five.

Shannon Dudley dished out 31 assists and recorded 11 digs. Katharine Journeay also finished with 11 digs.

Tutalo finished with three of Emmanuel's eight service aces in the win.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

Today's match marks the second-straight season in which the Anna Maria squad has qualified for the GNAC postseason tournament. Last year, the AMCATS were in the No. 7 slot and suffered a quarterfinal loss to No. 2 Rivier.

WHAT'S NEXT

The AMCATS put in a bid for the 2015 ECAC New England Tournament. ECAC information will be announced following the completion of all the conference tournaments.