Panthers Stop Lasell, 3-0 in Women's Volleyball

NEWTON 99/23/14) – The Lasell College women's volleyball team fell 3-0 in a non-conference match against visiting Plymouth State University on Tuesday evening. The loss leaves Lasell with a 2-14 record on the season, while Plymouth State improves to 4-8 for the 2014 campaign as the Panthers swept the match by scores of 25-12, 25-15, and 29-27.

Odina Ellis (Providence, R.I.) posted a team-high five kills for Lasell and Michele Canestro (Castleton, N.Y.) added four kills. Caitlyn Garcia (Moreno Valley, Calif.) and Haley Dennis (Coventry, R.I.) contributed 11 and 10 digs respectively, while Taylor Tiezzi (Meriden, Conn.) handed out 18 assists in the match.

Katie Sylvia (Lee, N.H.) recorded a match-high nine kills to go with nine digs and five service aces for Plymouth State. Mikki Taffee (Sandown, N.H.) finished with a match-best .583 hitting percentage by tallying seven kills on 12 attacking attempts. Meghan Bailey (Canterbury, N.H.) directed a balanced Panthers attack with 31 assists and Brenna Peruch (Cave Creek, Ariz.) spearheaded the Panthers defense with 17 digs.

In the first set, Plymouth State broke a 5-5 tie with a 6-1 spurt to build an 11-6 advantage. Lasell hung in, battling back to cut the Panthers lead to 13-10, but a 12-2 run by the visitors sparked by four kills from Taffee on their way to a 25-12 win in the first set.

Plymouth opened the second set on a 6-1 run and built their lead to 16-5, never letting Lasell cut the deficit to single digits as the captured the second set 25-15 to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Lasell wouldn't go quietly in the third set, taking a 5-5 score and winning five of the next seven points to go in front 10-7. The Panthers responded by taking five straight points to retake the lead at 12-10 but Lasell didn't allow the visitors to distance themselves. The two teams traded points, seeing eight ties including knotting the score at 21-21. Kills by Kayla Wyland (Melrose, Mass.) and Sylvia put PSU ahead 23-21, but kills from the Lasers Odina Ellis and Haley Dennis coupled with a Plymouth error knotted the score at 24-24. Following three more ties, Plymouth closed out the set with kills by Brianaa Wojtas (Salem, N.H.) and Sylvia to win the set 29-27 and take the match 3-0.

Plymouth State hosts UMass-Dartmouth on Saturday September 27^th at 3:00 p.m. while Lasell will return to the court on Saturday September 27^th as well when they open their Great Northeast Athletic Conference schedule with a tri-match against Norwich and the University of St. Joseph's beginning at 11:00 a.m.