Volleyball Captures 2014 MASCAC Regular Season Title with 3-2 Victory over Westfield State
Westfield, Mass. – The Framingham State University volleyball team secured the 2014 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Regular Season Championship this afternoon with a five set victory over Westfield State University at the Woodward Center. The Rams won by scored of 23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 22-25 and 15-10.
The Rams (21-11, 6-0 MASCAC) have won their second MASCAC Regular Season crown in three seasons and will enter next week's MASCAC Post Season Tournament as the top seed hosting the semifinal round and final round on Saturday, November 8th.
The Owls (12-20, 4-2 MASCAC) finish the regular season third in the MASCAC standings and will host a quarterfinal match of the MASCAC Tournament on Wednesday evening.
Framingham was led by sophomore Alycia Rackliffe (Feeding Hills, Mass) who posted a game high 28 kills and six solo blocks to go along with 10 digs.
Westfield opened the day on a torrid pace holding an 8-1 advantage in the first set before Framingham chipped away and eventually took their first lead, 23-22. Westfield was able to win the next three points in succession to take the opener.
Framingham bounced back to capture two closely contested sets of their own before Westfield forced the final frame courtesy of a key five point rally, giving the Owls a 20-17 advantage and setting up the set four win.
With the fifth frame knotted at nine, Framingham took six of the last seven points for the conference win and regular season title.
The Rams' senior setting combo of Maribeth Martin (Barnstable, Mass.) and Morgan Drew (South Easton, Mass.) fueled the offensive attack with 29 and 23 assists. Junior Annie DeLoid (Plymouth, Mass.) picked up 16 kills while classmate Danielle Girard (Tivoli, N.Y.) posted 11 kills and 20 digs.
Sophomore Julia Wan (South Deerfield, Mass.) led the Rams' defense with a team high 23 digs.
Three Owls recorded double digit kills in the match, Kendyl Haney (Ashland, Mass.) delivered 19, Carolyn Cote (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Victoria Sutphen (Holden, Mass.) each had 12.
The Owl's defense was paced by seniors Sarah Green (Peabody, Mass.) and Cote who recorded 21 and 28 digs, respectively
Owl freshman setter Courtney Ryan (Quincy, Mass.) distributed a game-high 47 assists and dropped two aces in the loss.
Westfield hosts the sixth seeded Salem State Vikings on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Woodward Center in the first round of MASCAC playoffs.
Portions of release courtesy of WSU Sports Information.