Wheaton 3, WPI 0

Box Score

Norton, MA --- The Wheaton College women's volleyball team continued its best start in 16 years with a 3-0 (30-21, 30-12, 30-25) victory over New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) counterpart Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) on Tuesday evening during its home opener at Emerson Gymnasium. The Lyons are now 8-1 and won their league opener for the fourth consecutive season, while the Engineers fell to 3-7 after their first NEWMAC match.
 
Game one proved to be the tightest of the three from start nearly to finish. After the teams split the first 16 points, freshman Sam Andreacchi's (Burlingame , CA) kill pushed the Lyons to a 14-10 edge, but the Engineers cut their deficit to two points seven times down the stretch. Sophomore Becca Holmberg (Madison, CT) later recorded a kill to bring WPI within 24-21, but the Lyons rattled off the final six points.
 
The Engineers tallied the first point of the second game, but Wheaton went on a 10-0 run from there behind freshman Becca Rose's (Sudbury, MA)serving, which included three aces. Junior Caitlin Farr (Yarmouth, MA) had two kills and a block during the run. A later 7-0 Lyon stretch made it 17-4, and after WPI junior Nikki Croteau (Wilbraham, MA) served three straight points to bring the Engineers within 28-12, Andreacchi's kill brought service back to Wheaton . Rose's fourth ace of the game clinched the win.
 
Rose served again to begin game three, and her four aces were key to Wheaton scoring the first 11 points. The Lyons led 19-2 before WPI began rallying, slowly whittling its deficit to single digits. A Croteau ace was followed by a sophomore Becca Mattern (Vernon, CT) kill, which capped a 23-10 run that left the score 29-25 in favor of Wheaton, but the hosts held on to close out the match.
 
Rose ended up with 28 assists, nine service aces and eight digs on the evening, as her ace total fell just two shy of the 16-year-old school record and matched the highest Wheaton total since 2002. Andreacchi finished with 10 kills, freshman Natasha von Sonn (Burbank, CA) notched eight kills, and classmate Kristen Hunt (Milford , CT) collected 25 digs.
 
Holmberg led the Engineers with seven kills. Croteau also had 25 assists, while junior Kathryn Bomba (Chelmsford, MA)and senior Kate Woodman (Fairfield, CT) tallied 19 and 18 digs, respectively.
 
Wheaton goes back on the road on Thursday to face Emmanuel College , which has appeared in the past three NCAA Tournaments by virtue of winning the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament each year. The match begins at 8:00 p.m.

WPI will play its next match at home versus Rhode Island College on Thursday. The match will begin at 7pm in Harrington Auditorium.

Release courtesy Wheaton Sports Information