The Mount Ida College women's volleyball team kicked off the 2009 season at New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) powerhouse Wheaton College losing 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 18-25, 26-24) this past Wednesday night. The Mustangs fall to 0-1 overall while hosts maintain their home opener streak winning five of their last six.
Mount Ida saw outstanding performances from freshmen
Michelle Begley (West Barnstable, MA/Barnstable)
and Devyn Frank (Mystic, CT/Fitch) accounting for
eight and seven kills, respectively. Junior setter
Kira Feeter (Keene, NH/Keene) totaled 21 assists,
while classmate Chelsea Darnell (Dublin, OH/Dublin
Scioto) accounted for 20 digs.
Lyon sophomore Miranda Howitt (San Francisco,
CA/International) was one kill shy of a double-double,
finishing with nine kills and 17 assists, while senior
Lauren Kraus (Westboro, MA/Westboro) paced the
Blue and White attack with 12 kills. Sophomore Lauren
McGrath (Wading River, NY/Shoreham-Wading River) had six
kills and four blocks, while freshman Olanna Nissim
(Greenwich, CT/Greenwich) added seven kills in her college
debut.
The first set featured six ties in the early going, including a
10-10 knot, before Wheaton rattled off four straight points and
maintained at least a two-point edge the rest of the way. The
ensuing set saw eight ties, with the last coming at 16-all, but the
Lyons again pulled away to capture a 2-0 lead. Leading 23-20,
Kraus and Howitt smacked back-to-back kills to seal the win.
Wheaton jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in the third set before the
Mustangs used a game-changing 18-6 run to gain control. The
hosts scored the next three points to get within 18-13 but came no
closer, as Mount Ida tacked on the final two points to force a
fourth set.
The visitors controlled play for the majority of the final set,
holding leads of 20-14 and 23-20, before Wheaton answered with six
of the last seven points. The Blue and White surrendered the
lone point of that run after tying things up at 23-all but
responded with three straight points to ice the win.
The Mustangs will host non-conference UMass-Dartmouth this Saturday
for their 2009 home opener starting at 1:00 p.m.