Posted: Oct 17, 2009

Volleyball Drops Two in Tri-Match with Westfield and Worcester

Framingham, Mass. - The Westfield State College volleyball team swept a Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) tri-match with Worcester State and Framingham State at Framingham's Athletic and Recreation Center this afternoon. With the two wins, the Owls improve to 14-13 on the season and 5-0 in the MASCAC, while the Lancers, who went 1-1 on the day, improve to 11-12 overall and 4-2 in conference. The Rams who lost both matches today fall to 10-13 on the season and 1-3 in the MASCAC.

The Lancers won the first match of the day 3-1 over the host Rams. They easily won the first two sets 25-15 and 25-17, before the Rams took the third 25-16. The Lancers regrouped and took the fourth set 25-18 to pick up the win. The Lancers were led by senior hitter Lauren Saylor (Swansea, Mass.), who picked up 12 kills, and sophomore setter Brittany Stoddard (Orange, Mass.), who chipped in 29 assists and five blocks. The Rams were led by junior Ashley Trudeau (Rockland, Mass.) who picked up a game-high 17 kills and 15 digs. Classmates Jessi Goode (Marston Mills, Mass.) and Lauren Kasischke (Methuen, Mass.) chipped in 15 digs apiece for the Rams.

In the second match of the day, the Owls cruised to a 3-0 win over the Lancers by game scores of 25-21, 25-16, and 25-15. The Owls had three players record double digit kills as sophomore setter Kerin DeGirolamo (North Attleboro, Mass.) picked up 52 assists. Sophomore Alex Shaw (East Falmouth, Mass.) led the way with 18 kills, while Alyssa Stankowski (Deerfield, Mass.) and Stephanie Bartkus (North Merrick, NY) chipped in 11 and 10 kills.

In the final match of the day, the Owls defeated the Rams 3-0 winning by scores of 25-17, 25-10, and 25-22. Shaw picked up 12 kills and DeGirolamo added 35 assists. Libero Katie Kurty (Ludlow, Mass.) chipped in a game-high 13 digs. Trudeau once again had a strong match for the Rams with a team-high 10 kills and 11 digs. Freshman Jackie Friel (Centerville, Mass.) added nine kills and three blocks.

The Rams return to action on Thursday as they host Suffolk University at 7 p.m., while Westfield State travels to Western Connecticut on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Lancers also return to action on Tuesday as they travel to Keene State.