The Mount Ida College women's volleyball team dropped their home opener of the 2009 season to visiting UMASS-Dartmouth 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 12-25, 16-25) this Saturday in Newton, Massachusetts. The Corsairs notch their second consecutive victory now standing at 2-0 on the season while the Mustangs drop their second straight at 0-2 overall.
The Corsairs jumped ahead immediately leading 10-3 after consecutive errors by the Mustangs in the beginning of game one. Mount Ida freshman Devyn Frank (Mystic, CT/Fitch) added a block and consecutive service aces along with a kill to help her team pull closer trailing 12-8. The visitors slowly crept away outscoring the hosts 3-7 taking the outright 11-19 advantage. The Mustangs were able to close within five points of their opponents, but it wasn't enough to make a run at the lead. The Corsairs captured the game one victory by a score of 25-19 leading the match 1-0.
Mount Ida kicked off game two up 5-3 off a couple of errors by UMD along with a kill by freshman Michelle Begley (West Barnstable, MA/Barnstable). After exchanging points for the next few sets the Mustangs gave back a few off costly errors giving their opponents the opportunity to knot the score at 11-11. It was neck and neck for the remainder of the game with four ties and only three points separating the teams till the final point. The Mustangs pulled ahead by three at 23-20 after a blocking error by the Corsairs. The visitors knotted the score back up after a hitting error by the hosts and a block and kill by UMD making it 23-23. Two consecutive errors by the visitors locked up the game two 25-23 victory for the Mustangs tying the match at 1-1.
The Corsairs took over right away in game three winning the first 10 points off costly errors by Mount Ida. The Mustangs never got within 10 points of the visitors for the rest this game while UMD poured on the offense and got plenty of help from a plethora of errors by the hosts. The Corsairs eventually captured 25-12 game three victory and regained the match lead up 2-1.
Game four wasn't much different for the Mustangs falling behind 7-1 unable to snap out of their funk off more costly errors. The Corsairs eventually pulled out of reach and closed out the 25-16 game four win as well as the 3-1 match victory good for their second of the season. The Mustangs have dropped their past two contests going into the Plymouth State University tournament this coming weekend.
Mount Ida senior Amanda Pereira (New Bedford, MA/New Bedford) led the way for the Mustangs with six kills while Frank added five. Freshman defensive specialist Toni Vegiard (South Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) tallied 17 digs while Pereira added nine digs of her own.
The Mustangs will travel to the Plymouth State Days Inn of Campton Tournament this Friday at 4:00 p.m. for the weekend.