Volleyball Sweeps Tri-Match at Curry to Begin Season
MILTON, Mass. – The Mitchell College women's volleyball team opened up their 2023 season by sweeping a pair of games on Saturday afternoon, 3-0 over Anna Maria College and 3-2 over Curry College at Katz Gymnasium.
The victories mark the first two for the Mariners as members of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, which they joined this summer after the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) dismembered after the 2022-23 academic year. They also were the first two wins in the second stint of head coach Tim Gaiser, who led Mitchell to a 9-13 record during his previous year at Mitchell in 2013.
The Mariners (2-0) will return to action on Tuesday, September 5, when they travel to face Rhode Island College in a non-conference match set to begin at 7:00 pm.
Game 1 – Mitchell 3, Anna Maria 0
Mitchell came out of the gate on fire in their season opening match against the AMCATS, taking down the fellow GNAC school in straight sets. The first set found the Mariners leading 4-3, before four straight points, including two straight kills by senior Sarah Aviles (Griswold, Conn.), gave Mitchell an 8-4 advantage that would only grow from there on route to a 25-16 advantage. Anna Maria jumped out to a 5-4 edge in the second set, but three straight points put Mitchell in the driver's seat and they would not trail again, holding off the AMCATS 25-19. The third set was a back and forth affair early on, featuring multiple lead changes that saw the score stand at 13-13 near the midway point. A service error, a ball handling error, and an attack error by Anna Maria then granted Mitchell three consecutive points to shift the momentum. Leading 20-15, Anna Maria battled back, trimming the deficit to 20-19, but Bliss Brown (Rainbow City, Ala.) answered with a kill, giving Mitchell the breathing room needed to take the set 25-21.
Aviles paced the Mariners with match-high nine kills, while Bliss Brown registered 19 assists, also a match-high figure. Junior Allison Blum (Garden Grove, Cali.) and sophomore Julia Lent (Miller Place, N.Y.) registered 10 digs apiece.
Game 2 – Mitchell 3, Curry 2
The final match of the day featured the victorious teams from the first two games, yet it was all Curry early on. The Colonels appeared as if they were heading to a quick win, outlasting the Mariners 25-21 and 25-22 to take a 2-0 lead into the third set. Mitchell promptly responded with a dominating third set, one which saw the visitors win by 16. Bliss Brown began the fourth set with three straight kills, setting the tone for another strong stanza for the Mariners, who pulled the match to an even 2-2 with a 25-16 victory. Holding the momentum, Mitchell scored the first four points of the deciding set, with Allison Blum delivering a pair of kills. The score sat at 10-6 in favor of Mitchell soon after, but a Curry attack error, followed by a Bliss Brown kill and a service ace delivered by Blum began a series of five straight points which allowed the Mariners to pull off the comeback, winning the final set 15-7.
Allison Blum was credited with a match-high 17 kills, the second most in her collegiate career. The sophomore added 18 digs, while Julianna Repaci (New Britain, Conn.) led the team with 19 digs, Brown added 18, and Julia Lent tallied 16. Brown also dished out a match-best 25 assists.
Lauren Guzman and Sonja Matheson each finished with double-digit kills for Curry, with Guzman recording 12 and Matheson 10.