Volleyball Cruises Past Anna Maria; Drops Five Set Thriller to Eastern Connecticut

Framingham, Mass. - The Framingham State University volleyball team split a pair of matches Saturday at the Athletic and Recreation Center defeating Anna Maria by a score to 3-0 and falling Eastern Connecticut in a tight 3-2 matchup. Eastern Connecticut defeated Anna Maria in the middle game of the day, 3-0.

MATCH #1

THE BASICS:

- Score:   Framingham State 3, Anna Maria 0 (25-13, 25-17 and 25-9)

- Records: Framingham State (7-5), Anna Maria (1-9)

- Location: Athletic & Recreation Center – Framingham, Mass.

 INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Sophomore Grace Caughey (Mendon, Mass.) and freshman Brandee Thomas (North Kingstown, RI) paced the Rams on the attack with seven and nine kills apiece.  Caughey converted her 7 kills on 16 swings with and three errors adding three digs.  Thomas tallied her 9 kills on 18 swings with two errors and three digs.
• Senior Mackenzie Whalen (Norton, Mass.) tallied a game-high 2 assists with ten service aces and two digs.
• The AMCATS were led by Julia Ramos (Orange, Mass.) who tallied two kills, five digs, six assists and a service ace.

MATCH #2

THE BASICS:

- Score:   Eastern Connecticut State 3, Anna Maria 0 (25-13, 25-9 and 25-11)

- Records: Eastern Connecticut State (7-5), Anna Maria (1-10)

- Location: Athletic & Recreation Center – Framingham, Mass.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Freshman Anna Barry (Andover, Conn.) led the charge for the Warriors with a game high eleven kills on 16 attacks with only one error for a .625 hitting percentage. Alaetra Long (Lincoln, NE) finished with nine kills on 14 swing and two errors while Abby Stern (Manchester, Conn.) picked up six kills on 11 attacks and seven service aces.
• The AMCATS were led by Abygail Chapdelaine (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and Chloe Vella (Leominster, Mass.) who tallied four kills apiece.

MATCH #3

THE BASICS:

- Score:   Eastern Connecticut State 3, Framingham State 2 (25-23, 19-25, 23-25, 25-17, 15-13)

- Records: Eastern Connecticut State (8-5), Framingham State (7-6)

- Location: Athletic & Recreation Center – Framingham, Mass.

TURNING POINT:

• After taking the first set the Warriors dropped the next two giving the Rams a 2-1 lead heading to the fourth game. After back-and-forth play in the fourth, Eastern broke a 10-10 tie and riped off a 7-0 run capped by a Leah Sopenski (Depp River, Conn.) kill that they would ride for the set victory.
• In the fifth after the Rams took a 11-10 lead the Warriors would rattle off a 4 point run to give them the lead for good.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Barry once again paced the Warriors with 16 kills on 28 attacks with three errors adding two solo blocks and one assisted. Carly Balskus (Hebron, Conn.) pitched in 14 kills and Caryn Sibiskie (Rockfall, Conn.) added 11.
• Long had a game high 31 digs with 8 kills while Stern added 17 digs and 35 assists.
• Brandey Rodriguez (Lawrence, Mass.) led the Rams with 16 kills on 37 swings and five errors with eight serving aces while Thomas added 12 kills in the Rams second contest of the day.
• Alyssa Cafarelli (Peoria, AZ) grabs a team best 26 digs with Deirdre Fay (Cornwall, NY) adding 25 digs and 11 kills.

UP NEXT:

• The Rams return to the court on Monday, September 24^th when then host Dean College at 6:00pm.

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