The Mount Ida College women's volleyball program snapped a five game winning streak Thursday night against visiting non-conference Wheaton College 3-0 by scores of 25-20, 25-16, and 26-24 in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs fall to 5-3 overall and have yet to play a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) match while the Lyons improve to 5-5.
It stayed extremely tight for the opening of game one with Wheaton scoring the first three points of the contest. The Mustangs came back to tie it up at 3-3 capped on a service ace by senior captain Chelsea Darnell (Dublin, OH/Dublin Scioto). The score would not separate by more than two points for the next couple of sets knotting up at 9-9 after a service error by the Mustangs. The Lyons went on to score the next six consecutive points after four straight errors by the hosts leading 15-9 finished on a kill by Lyon freshman Jackie Jones (Amherst, NH/Souhegan). Wheaton pulled away 20-14 on a stretch of Mount Ida errors. The Mustangs tried to crawl back into the contest cutting it to 24-20 after a sophomore Christine Gallart (Germantown, MD/St. John's College HS) kill. But the Mustangs were called for a net violation on the last point falling 25-20 down 1-0 in the match.
Game two was much of the same staying neck and neck in the beginning with multiple ties up till the 8-8 mark. Wheaton pulled ahead on four consecutive points with two Mount Ida errors and a couple of Lyon kills included. The visitors gradually pulled away leading 16-10 after a kill by Jones. The Mustangs came crawling back cutting the lead to 20-15 after a couple of Lyon errors. The visitors eventually closed out the final five points after a 5-1 run taking the 25-16 game two win and the 2-0 match lead.
It stayed close the entire way through game three with the visitors holding a small 10-6 advantage after a slew of Mount Ida errors. The Mustangs powered back into it cutting the lead to 16-14 after a Gallart kill. The visitors eventually lost their lead watching the hosts score five consecutive points capped by a service ace from sophomore Devyn Frank (Mystic, CT/Fitch) at 20-20. Four ties in the last five points were featured with the visitors ultimately taking the 26-24 game three win for the 3-0 match sweep in non-conference action.
Darnell led the Mustangs with eight kills while Frank tallied three solo blocks. Sophomore Michelle Begley (West Barnstable, MA/West Barnstable) chipped in 12 digs while junior setter Cody Fusco (San Francisco, CA/San Francisco Waldorf) dished out 11 assists.
The Mustangs will host their first tri-match of the year with Emmanuel College and Newbury College coming to Newton this Saturday starting at 10:00 a.m.