The Mount Ida College Women’s Volleyball Team matched up against New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) member Clark University tonight. The Mustangs beat a tough Wheaton College team who are also members of the NEWMAC.

The Cougars went on top 1-0 in the first game in a tough battle that was back and forth. Clark started strong going up 18-9, but MIC wouldn’t be denied catching up to tie it at 27-27. The visitors sealed the first set with a couple of key errors, due to communication problems on the Ida side.

The Mustangs came out hot in the second stanza dominating Clark by a score of 30-17. The attack was led by hard hitting sophomore Amanda Pereira (New Bedford, MA/New Bedford) who dominated the offense.

It was close again in the third game trading points the whole way through. It was knotted up at 24-24 until the Mustangs took over winning 30-27 going up 2-1 in the match.

Clark came out strong in the fourth set going ahead by as many as seven points and harnessing the attack of Mount Ida creating errors that lead to points. The Mustangs chipped away at the lead ending up knotting it at 22-22, 23-23, 24-24, and 25-25. The Cougars pulled away by three making it 25-28 but the Mustangs grabbed the moment and jumped on the back of some great defense and some incredible offense by Pereira winning 31-29.

The Mustangs will travel to St. Joseph College of Connecticut this weekend for their second tri-match of the season. They will face St. Joe of CT and Pine Manor College with all the action starting at 1:00 p.m.