October 15, 2011

CHESTNUT HILL, MA – Saint Joseph's (15-7, 6-4 GNAC) swept a conference tri-match with victories over Pine Manor College (13-4, 4-4 GNAC) and Anna Maria College (3-18, 0-10 GNAC) on Saturday.

 

Saint Joseph's def. Pine Manor, 3-2 (16-25, 22-25, 25-19, 27-25, 16-14)

St. Joe's, which entered the day's action having lost three of the last four matches over the past week, seemed destined to fall short again as the host Gators jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The Monks dug deep however, as the Royal Blue managed to win three consecutive sets to steal the 3-2 victory.

Saint Joseph's had not posted a victory after losing the first two sets of a match since the Monks defeated Wentworth College by the same score on September 4th, 2010.

Sophomore Brooke Dyer (Lebanon, Maine/St. Thomas Aquinas) enjoyed a fine match with a team-high 13 kills, three service aces and 17 digs and Erica Russi '14 (Debary, Fla.) netted nine kills – a career-best - and 17 digs in the victory. Jordan Pelczar '12 (Meredith, N.H.) and Kristin Palladino '14 (Exeter, N.H.) both recorded career-highs in digs with 28 and 23, respectively,

Kiah Begley '13 (Berwick, Maine/St. Thomas Aquinas) added 30 assists and 19 digs and Emilee Penman '15 (Uncasville, Conn.) tallied six kills for Saint Joseph's.

Saint Joseph's def. Anna Maria, 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-14)

Following a hard-fought win over Pine Manor, the Monks closed out the day with a comparatively easy 3-0 sweep of Anna Maria College, a new member of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) this fall.

Dyer led the SJC offensive attack yet again with 10 kills to go with a stellar .471 hitting percentage while Russi and Palladino registered seven kills apiece in the win over the AMCATS. Begley added 24 assists and nine digs and Pelczar chipped in with a team-high 12 digs in what was the Monks' ninth sweep of the season.

Saint Joseph's, which swept a conference tri with wins over Mount Ida and Suffolk on September 17th, now has two GNAC tri-match sweeps this season – a first for the Monks volleyball team, which is in its fifth year as a member of the conference.

St. Joe's now begins a stretch of five consecutive home matches, beginning with a non-conference tilt versus University of New England on Tuesday at 6:00 PM. The Monks host another non-league opponent in Maine-Farmington on Wednesday at 7:00 PM before taking on Saint Joseph (Conn.) (6-16, 1-7 GNAC)) and Norwich University (11-8, 5-4 GNAC) in a conference tri this Saturday. The GNAC matches are slated to begin at 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM, respectively.