LASERS DROP BACK TO BACK MATCHES AT RIVIER

In their final games of the 2008 season, the Lasers were defeated in back-to-back matches by Simmons College and Rivier College to finish their regular season at 9-19, and 5-7 in the GNAC.

Lasell took on the Sharks of Simmons College first, bringing them to five sets.  The Lasers came out slow in the first game, dropping the set 13-25.  After a quick regrouping, Lasell came back to win set two, 25-18, and then crushed the withdrawing Sharks, 25-9 in the third set.

Simmons put in a final striking effort in game four to beat Lasell 25-19, bringing the match down to game five.  The Lasers made a final run for the match, before losing ground in the last set and falling, 12-15. 

Amanda Major (Southbury, CT) and Jenna-Lynn Geary (Marion, MA) were the top two defenders for the Lasers, digging up 29 balls between them.  Kelsey Schmidt (Ballston Spa, NY) and Nicole Wetterman (Dighton, MA) led the Lasers offense with 23 cumulative kills.  Wetterman also picked up 7 digs, and Schmidt threw in 4 of the Lasers 10 total blocks.

Meghan Crozier (Ballston Spa, NY)assisted 24 attacks in the loss, and dug up 5 balls on defense, while fellow first year, Danielle Drapeau (Biddeford, ME) threw in 5 digs and 6 kills.

Following the tough loss to the Sharks, the Lasers had to take on the first place Rivier College Raiders. The Raiders swept Lasell in three sets (15-25, 15-25, 19-25), but the Lasers did have some fine performances in the loss.

Crozier had a double-double with 17 assists and 10 digs, while Major picked up a team high 14 dug balls.  Crozier set up a balanced offense with Schmidt, Drapeau, and Wetterman each tallying 5 kills a piece.  Melanie Costa (Ludlow, MA) also picked up an additional 8 digs in the match.

The eighth seeded Lasers will return to Rivier on Tuesday, Nov. 4th, to play the first seeded Raiders in the quarter finals of the GNAC women's volleyball tournament, at 7:00 p.m.