Bay Path opens seasons at University of St. Joseph's Tri-Match and suffers two losses

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) women's volleyball team opened the 2018 season with a split after hosting the Bay Path University Wildcats and UMass Dartmouth Corsairs in a tri-match on Saturday afternoon inside the O'Connell Center. The Blue Jays swept Bay Path 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-19) in the opener before falling in four sets in the second match to the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs 3-1 (15-25, 25-19, 18-25, 16-25) to move to 1-1 on the season.  

Game 1 - USJ 3, Bay Path 0

Sophomore Aminah Tsonga (Plainville, Conn.) led Saint Joseph in the opener with 10 kills, while freshman Nina Lestrud (Torrington, Conn.) added six kills and hit .364. Senior Brenna Miller (McCleary, Wash.) facilitated the offense and posted a match-high 23 assists and added a pair of block assists. Classmate Janell Molina (Honolulu, Hawaii) led the defensive effort with 13 digs.

First Set: USJ 25-18

• The Blue Jays jumped out to an early 5-2 lead following a kill by freshman Caitlin Lumpkins (Green, R.I.).
• Bay Path would respond with five straight points to take its first lead of the game, 7-5.
• Both teams would trade points up to a 16-16 tie before USJ rattled off five consecutive points to take control of the match.
• USJ held the Wildcats to just two more points for the remainder of the match and a kill by freshman Hannah Benson (Terryville, Conn.) secured the opening set victory for the Blue Jays.

Second Set: USJ 24-12

• Saint Joseph used a huge 7-0 run off the serve of Molina to take control of the second set right from the beginning.
• Bay Path battled back to pull within 13-6, but the early cushion would be too much for the Wildcats to overcome.
• USJ sparked another big run late scoring six straight points to go up 24-10 before a Tsonga kill concluded the second set.

Third Set: 25-19

• Both teams battled back and forth early on leading to a 10-all stalemate.
• The Blue Jays followed with three straight points, highlighted by a Lestrud Kill, to go up 13-10 and force a Bay Path timeout.
• USJ kept up the pressure out of the timeout and went on a 10-3 run to take over the third set and led 23-13.
• Bay Path didn't go down easy though and fought back with a late 6-0 run, but a solo block by senior Torrie Epps (Windsor, Conn.) ended any chance of a Wildcats comeback and ended the set and match.

USJ hit .200 as a team for the match, holding Bay Path to a -.012 mark. The Blue Jays had 41 digs to the Wildcats' 33. Freshman Shaniqua Thompson (Hamden, Conn.) led Bay Path with five kills.

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. --  Junior Nicole Silverman (Chelmsford, Mass.) registered 29 kills, 22 digs and three service aces to lead UMass Dartmouth to a season-opening sweep of Bay Path (3-0) and host Saint Joseph (Conn.) (3-1) in a non-league college volleyball tri-match played Saturday afternoon at the O'Connell Center.

Silverman notched 16 kills and seven digs in the Corsairs' (2-0) 25-13, 25-19, 25-18 opening triumph over Bay Path's Wildcats (0-2), as junior Samantha Sedano (Valley Glen, Calif.) added eight kills and six service aces in the lid-lifter.  Senior Kristy Walton (Fairhaven, Mass.) also added eight kills and a pair of service aces for UMass Dartmouth, which received four kills and nine digs from senior Amanda LaCroix (East Freetown, Mass.).  Junior Jordan Rittberger (Huntington, N.Y.) collected 29 set assists and three digs for the winners, who received seven digs from junior Jillian Sykora (Waterford, Conn.).  Freshman Lydia Clifford (Coventry, R.I.) notched three kills in the setback for Bay Path, which received two kills, eight digs and three set assists from senior Lexi Cears (Agawam, Mass.) along with a pair of kills from freshman Lisa Sikop(Easthampton, Mass.).

Silverman posted a double-double effort of 13 kills, 15 digs and two aces in UMass Dartmouth's 25-15, 10-25, 25-18, 25-16 nightcap win over the host Blue Jays (1-1), as LaCroix added nine kills and 23 digs in the triumph.  Sedano collected seven kills, eight service aces and four digs for the Corsairs, who received six kills from Walton to go with three kills from freshman Molly Porch (New Hartford, Conn.).  Rittberger recorded 31 set assists, eight digs and a pair of service aces to complete the sweep for the visitors, who received 21 digs from Sykora along with 11 digs from freshman Leira Vasquez(New Bedford, Mass.).

Freshman Hannah Benson (Terryville, Conn.) registered 10 kills and 14 digs in the setback for Saint Joseph, which received nine kills and 13 digs from sophomore Aminah Tsonga (Plainville, Conn.).  Freshman Nina Lestrud (Torrington, Conn.) added four kills and five digs for the Blue Jays, who received 19 set assists and 11 digs from senior Brenna Miller(McCleary, Wash.) as well as 16 digs from senior Janell Molina (Honolulu, Hawai).

Bay Path's next match will be at home vs. Smith College on September 11, 2018 at 8 pm.

Story courtesy of USJ and UM-D Sports Information