Wildcats Fall Short 3-2 Against Pride

WESTON, Mass. – The Regis College women's volleyball team fought off a scrappy Bay Path College squad, 3-2,on Saturday afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference volleyball action in Weston, Mass. The Pride needed set scores of 25-19, 25-21, 21-25, 15-25, 15-11 to defeat the Wildcats. Regis improves to 8-16 overall and 4-3 in the NECC with the win while Bay Path drops to 12-9 and 4-2 in league play.

Regis jumped out to an early 6-2 lead capped off by a Jackie Silver (West Hills, Calif.) kill in set one and prompted Bay Path to use its first timeout. The Wildcats responded well to the break in action as Bay Path was able to make it a 12-11 game following an attack error by the Pride. Bay Path's Kate Bartels (Dalton, Mass.) made it a 16-15 game following a service ace that forced Regis to burn its first timeout of the afternoon. The Pride closed out the set on a 9-4 run closed out by back-to-back kills by Julie Endara (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Vanessa Noesi (Methuen, Mass.) and a service ace from Silver to give Regis the 25-19 victory.

Set two was a back and forth battle as the teams traded leads and were tied at 15-all before a pair of Bay Path errors led to a Wildcat timeout with the score 17-15 in favor of the home team. Bay Path would fight its way back to an even score at 20-20 as Vanessa Chaplin (Attleboro, Mass.) took an Ashley Provost (Ludlow, Mass.) feed for a kill.
  
Regis's Sarah Gold (North Hollywood, Calif.) sealed set two as the sophomore rattled off three straight service aces to grab a 24-20 lead before Anneliese Harrison (Holliston, Mass.) closed out set two with a kill and gave Regis a 25-21 win and 2-0 lead in the match.

Bay Path would not go quietly, however, as the Wildcats took an early 7-2 lead in set three before Regis was forced to call a timeout. Three straight service aces by Nadine Harkless (Westfield, Mass.) extended the Wildcat lead to its largest of the game at 14-7, before the Pride began to chip away and force a Bay Path timeout with the score 20-17. It was too little, too late however as the Pride could not overcome the deficit and dropped set three, 25-21.

Set four began much like the earlier games as the score was tied as late as 10-10 before the Wildcats went on a 15-5 run to end the game and force a fifth and deciding set.

In the final set, Regis grabbed a 5-1 lead following a Megan Pratt (Rockland, Mass.) kill before Bay Path battled back to make it an 8-6 game following a Regis service error. Regis held an 11-7 lead that was pushed to 14-7 following a Caitlyn Walsh (Taunton, Mass.) ace and a Noesi kill, but the Wildcats rattled off four straight points to force a Regis timeout with the score 14-11. On the ensuing play, Bay Path had an attack error that ended the game and sealed the 3-2 victory for the Pride.

The Regis attack was paced by Vanessa Noesi's 12 kills, four solo blocks, and four block assists. Julie Endara chipped in with nine kills and 16 digs while Domingas Gomes (Brockton, Mass.) added six kills of her own. Caitlyn Walsh set up the offense with a team-high 25 assists while Sarah Gold posted a match-high 43 digs in the win.

Bay Path's Nadine Harkless posted a monster double-double with 20 kills and 30 digs to lead the Wildcats. Kate Bartels also posted a double-double with 11 kills and 15 digs while Ashley Provost handed out 37 assists and added 26 digs in the setback. Vanessa Chaplin and Kacie Bayreuther (East Lyme, Conn.) also reached double-digits in digs with 15 and 13 digs each, respectively.

The Crimson and Gold return to action on Wednesday night as the Pride honors its lone senior Domingas Gomes with its annual Senior Night in an NECC matchup with Lesley University at 7:00 p.m. Bay Path returns home on Wednesday night as well, hosting Southern Vermont College in a 7:00 p.m. game.