The Mount Ida College women's volleyball team dropped their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) loss snapping a three game winning streak against visiting rival Lasell College 3-1 by scores of 25-21, 12-25, 25-23, and 25-23 on Thursday night in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs fall to 8-4 and 1-1 in conference play while the Lasers improve to 5-5, 2-1 in the GNAC.
With two very solid teams competing, it was apparent right from the start that it was going to be a very competitive match with three ties to open the match on a sophomore Christine Gallart (Germantown, MD/St. John's College HS) to knot the score at 4-4. The Mustangs pulled ahead by a handful up 8-5 after a kill by Mustang sophomore Devyn Frank (Mystic, CT/Fitch). Lasell hung around for a bit pulling within two points (10-8) after a host's service error. The Mustangs eventually jumped ahead by a game high seven leading 17-10 after showcasing some high powered offense capped off by a Gallart service ace. The Lasers came back and cut the lead to a deuce after a slew of Mount Ida errors down 21-19. But the Mustangs composed themselves scoring the final three points of game one winning 25-21 to lead 1-0 in the match.
The Mustangs were the polar opposite from game one starting the second set falling behind 17-4 after a conjunction of errors. The hosts were unable to climb back into it only scoring eight more points for the rest of the set while the visitors cruised to a 25-12 blugeoning in game two tying the match at 1-1.
Mount Ida looked back to form in game three in another very close set with the visitors leading 10-8 after a Mustang error. The hosts ultimately knotted the score on a kill by senior captain Chelsea Darnell (Dublin, OH/Dublin Scioto) at 11-11. The Lasers pulled away by four up 15-11 after four consecutive errors by the Mustangs. Mount Ida came back again to tie the score at 17-17 on a Frank kill. It went back and forth for the next couple of points with five ties up until the 23-23 mark. A service error by the hosts followed by a suspect out call by the officials gave the Lasers a 25-23 game three win and a 2-1 match lead.
Game four looked a lot like game two in the beginning with the Lasers pulling ahead by a commanding lead up 14-5 with high powered offense along with a bunch of Mustang errors. The Mustangs chipped away slowly pulling within three down 20-17 after a Darnell kill. Mount Ida never backed down cutting the advantage to a deuce down 24-22 after a ball handling error by Lasell. The would eventually give up the final point on a Laser kill by freshman Taylor Riley (Greencastle, PA/Mercersbury Academy) for the 25-23 and the 3-1 GNAC match victory.
The Mustangs were led by Frank with 12 kills while Darnell chipped in 13 digs. Junior setter Cody Fusco (San Francisco, CA/San Francisco Waldorf) dished out 18 assists.
Mount Ida will host another GNAC match-up this Sunday against Johnson & Wales University starting at 11:00 a.m.