Owings Mills, Md. – The Stevens Institute of Technology women’s volleyball team swept Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Commonwealth member Stevenson University 25-13, 25-16, 25-16 in non-conference play Saturday afternoon.
Stevens improved to 14-4, while Stevenson fell to 10-9.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams traded points back and forth to start the day’s action, Stevens leading 3-2 before finding itself behind 5-4. Two kills each from Meg Dion and Parker Adkins pushed Stevens back in front 8-5, and ignited an eventual 11-2 spurt that sprung the Ducks out in front, 15-7. Stevenson trimmed the deficit back to 15-9, but kills from Molly Harris, Cleo Shannon, and three errors from the Mustangs pushed the Ducks’ lead back to nine, 20-11. At 24-13, libero Bailey Axelrod put a definitive stamp on the set with a service ace.
Stevens came out in the second set on fire, grabbing the first four and eight of the first 10 points of the set; Adkins had a pair of kills, and Dion and Shannon had one each during the opening surge. Stevenson weathered the storm, and eventually clawed its way back to within two on three separate occasions at 13-11, 14-12, and 15-13, respectively, but two kills from Elle Maggio and one each from Dion and Shannon pushed the Ducks’ lead back to 19-13. Three more kills from Dion helped grow the lead to 24-15 before Adkins closed out set two with her seventh kill of the match.
The Mustangs led throughout much of the early stages of the third set, opening a 12-7 lead at one point, but four errors helped stake Stevens to a 14-13 advantage. After Stevenson knotted the match at 14 and 15-all, four more Mustang errors plus three kills from Sarah Bolduc, and one apiece from Vivian Lisboa, Liz Pederson closed out the day’s action.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Maggio and Adkins each finished just shy of double-doubles; Maggio recorded nine digs to go with her seven kills; Adkins had eight kills and eight digs.
• Dion was the only player on either side with double-digit kills, finishing with 11.
• In just her 17th match of the season, Molly Harris surpassed her assist total accumulated over 32 matches last season, finishing with 39 and pushing her total for the year to 598. The 39 assists were also her second-most in the team’s nine three-set matches this season.
• Bailey Axelrad had 17 digs, her 10th straight game with 13 or more.
FROM THE COURT
“I thought that we showed and took care of business today. We played our game and I thought the scores really reflected that. We are looking forward to a great conference match on Tuesday against Lebanon Valley!” – Head Coach Macon Frey
UP NEXT
The Ducks return to Canavan Arena for the first of five straight home matches Tuesday, October 15, at 7 pm against the Dutchmen in a Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom affair.
