Devyn Frank (Mystic, CT/Fitch) notched a match high 12 kills and Chelsea Darnell (Dublin, OH/Dublin Scioto) pulled in a double-double of 11 kills and 12 digs guiding Mount Ida College past host Daniel Webster College, 3-1 in a New England regional women's volleyball matchup Tuesday night at the Mario Vagge Gymnasium. The Mustangs improve to 12-5 overall and remain at 1-2 in Great Northeast Ahtletic Conference (GNAC) play.
Christine Gallart (Germantown, MD/St. John's College HS) and Jennifer Ferreira (Shirley, MA/Ayer) added nine kills each as the Mustangs (12-5), winners of four straight, toppled the Eagles (6-5) for the eighth straight time, winning 25-20, 25-16, 23-25, 25-9.
Sam Hill (Hudson, NH) led DWC with eight kills, while Chelsey Crawford (Westfield, MA) knocked down seven. Brier Temple (Concord, NH) added five.
Cody Fusco (San Francisco, CA/San Francisco Waldorf) led the Mustangs defensively with a match high 13 digs while Alexa Piekarski (Rye, NH/Portsmouth) added 11. The tandem of Kira Feeter (Keene, NH/Keene) and Fusco combined for 39 assists.
Catherine Ferraro (Litchfield, N.H.) led DWC with 10 kills in the back row, while Caitlyn DePierro (Billerica, Mass.) dished out 20 assists.
The Eagles struggled with ball handling all evening, committing 14 receiving errors and added 23 attack errors against 27 kills to hit just .033. Mount Ida, meanwhile hit .204 on the night with 46 total kills, nullifying 23 errors on the net. Ball handling was a major category as the Mustangs amassed 63 team digs to just 36 for DWC.
Mount Ida trailed just once (1-2) in the game one win and took control of the match during a pivotal stretch in game two. The Eagles raced out to a 14-7 lead behind four aces from DePierro and another from Emily Travis (Somerset, Mass.).
But three Eagle attack errors, a Fusco kill and another from Gallart sparked a 10-1 Mustang run for a 17-15 lead that the Eagles never recovered from.
A Hill kill helped stop the bleeding momentarily for the Eagles but another Gallart kill and two straight from Darnell pushed the lead to 19-16 and Mount Ida took a 25-16 game two win.
The Eagles responded in game three, rallying three times from deficits of six points or more. Trailing 22-15, a Crawford kill followed by three Mustang unforced errors pulled DWC within 22-19 and Crawford followed with two aces and another Mount Ida error tied it at 22.
A Travis kill gave the Eagles their first lead and two more Mustang errors closed out the 25-23 final.
Mount Ida came out firing in the fourth with two quick kills from Ferreira to build a 10-6 lead and followed with an 8-1 run powered by two kills each from Darnell and Frank on the way to the 25-9 clincher.
Mount Ida heads to Norwich Saturday for a Great Northeast Athletic Conference tri-match that includes Saint Joseph's, Conn. beginning at 2:00 p.m.