Volleyball Claims 3-1 Victory over MCLA

PAXTON, Mass.—The Anna Maria College volleyball team got back into the wins' column with a 3-1 non-conference victory over the Trailblazers of MCLA on Tuesday evening.

The AMCATS improve to 10-6 overall with the win and have now won seven of their last eight matches. MCLA falls to 7-8 with the loss.

AMCAT LEADERS

Anna Maria was paced by sophomore Amari King (Lawrence, Mass.) with 22 kills and 17 digs. Classmate Carolina Garcia (Springfield, Mass.) had a busy day on defense as she compiled 32 digs.

Freshman setter Tierney Clancy (Meriden, Conn.) dished out 34 assists and two service aces while also tallying 12 digs of her own.

MCLA LEADERS

Five different members of the Trailblazers team tallied 10 digs or more as the team combined for 95 total digs. Allison Clark tallied 26 digs and a team-best 18 kills, while Rebecca Godbout added 22 digs.

Setter Beatrice Lechler dished out 41 assists for MCLA.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Trailblazers were the better team out of the gate, as they opened the match with a four-point run on the serving strength of Bri O'Rourke. MCLA held a 16-11 lead midway through the first set and rode out the momentum to a 25-18 win.

The tides turned in the second set as Anna Maria led for most of the way and held a commanding 10-point lead at 19-9. A kill by King on set-point would give the AMCATS the 25-14 victory.

The third set was much closer as both teams stayed close to one another for the duration. Tied at 16-16, the Trailblazers took the lead on an AMCAT serving error and managed to open a three-point gap to take a 20-17 lead, but Anna Maria capitalized on two MCLA attack errors, a Rebecca Foti (Bedford, Mass.) serving ace and a kill by King to rally back for the 23-22 lead. MCLA called a timeout to slow Anna Maria's momentum but it was unsuccessful, as the Trailblazers handed over the set with back-to-back attack errors.

The Trailblazers led the fourth set 9-5 before Anna Maria called a timeout. Out of the timeout, the AMCATS rallied for a 5-1 scoring advantage to tie the score at 10-10. From there the teams matched each other point-for-point with neither team leading by more than one point until back-to-back attack errors gave the AMCATS a 22-20 edge. An error by Foti and a kill by MCLA's Clark evened the score for the final time at 22-22 before the AMCATS took the lead for good on an MCLA serving error. The game ended on kills from King and Foti for the 24^th and 25^th points, respectively.

THE SERIES

Anna Maria has now won two out of three meetings with the Trailblazers over the last three years. MCLA claimed a 3-1 victory in last season's meeting.

WHAT'S NEXT

Anna Maria has a quick turnaround as they travel to Eastern Nazarene College tomorrow for a 7:00 p.m. non-conference game.