The Mount Ida College women's volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (25-10, 25-17, and 25-23) loss to visiting non-conference foe Western Connecticut State University Wednesday night in Newton, Massachusetts. The loss snaps a four game winning streak for the Mustangs falling to 16-10 overall and remaining 8-4 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) landing fourth in the GNAC standings. The Colonials improve to 24-6 overall staying at 4-1 in Little East Conference (LEC) play.
The Mustangs struggled in game one racking up a couple of errors paired with consecutive kills by Colonials senior Becca Stein (Kingston, NY/Kingston) giving the visitors an immediate 5-1 advantage. Mount Ida struggled to put points on the board while WSCU flourished on offense controlling the game going on a 7-0 run to take a 11-3 lead. Mount Ida had no answer for the Colonials while the visitors cruised for the rest of the first set capturing a 25-10 game one victory up 1-0 in the match.
Although Mount Ida jumped out to an early 4-1 lead, the visitors came right back taking a 7-5 advantage after another Stein kill. The hosts hung tough keeping with striking distance down 13-10 after a senior Cherie Parisi (South Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) kill. The Colonials pulled ahead by six up 16-10 after a hitting error by the hosts. The game went back and forth exchanging points with the visitors holding a five point advantage up until the 21-16 mark. Three consecutive kills by West Conn's Stein and a Mustang error gave the visitors a 25-17 game two victory up 2-0 in the match.
The hosts gave the Colonials a run for their money in game three jumping out to a commanding 10-6 advantage after a sophomore Chelsea Darnell (Dublin, OH/Dublin Scioto) kill. The Mustangs maintained a marginal lead up 20-15 capped by a freshman Christine Gallart (Germantown, MD/St. John's College HS) kill. The visitors started to turn up the heat at this point in the set tying the score at 22-22 after another Stein kill. It stayed neck and neck up the final two points when visiting freshman Paxton Thornton (Sharon, CT/Housatonic Regional) hammered the last two kills capturing the 25-23 game three win and the 2-0 match sweep.
Mount Ida was led by Gallart who notched seven kills and one solo block while sophomore setter Cody Fusco (San Francisco, CA/San Francisco Waldorf) tallied 14 assists. Darnell totaled seven digs and two service aces during the match.
The Mount Ida College women's volleyball team will host non-conference Regis College on senior day this coming Friday starting at 6:00 p.m.