The Mount Ida College Women’s Volleyball team hosted defending Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) champions Emmanuel College last Wednesday.

The Mustangs went ahead 1-0 on a 30-13 romping in game one with some incredible play by, always dangerous, Senior captain Adrienne Xenos (Brockton, MA/Brockton) who continues to dominate the middle for her squad.

Game two was closer with some errors on both sides, but Mount Ida pulled it out with a 30-23 winner to make the match 2-0. Freshman outside hitter Chelsea Darnell (Dublin, OH/Dublin Scioto) and Sophomore Blair Canan (North Reading, MA/North Reading) pounded the net, making it look easy with outstanding placement on their shots.  Libero and Sophomore Megan Svendsen (Sebastopol, CA/Analy) help out with some great defensive play.

Emmanuel got warm in game two, capitalizing on Mustang errors with sophomore Diana Grimaldi (Sandy Hook, CT/Newton) helping her squad keep it close with some great offense on the outside position. But it wasn’t enough to catch fire for the comeback.

Game three was close until 20-19 when the Saints pulled away to 24-21 on some big plays around the middle and outsides of the net. It was more errors by the home team that kept Emmanuel in it going ahead by as many as four. The Mustangs came back to take the lead at 30-29 on a Blair Canan spike. They would go on to win game three 31-29 to take the victory in the match.

Mount Ida will travel to downtown Boston to Suffolk University for a GNAC tri-match this Saturday against Suffolk University and Simmons College for a 12:00 p.m. start.