Longley Leads Women's Volleyball to 3-0 Sweep of Wentworth

BOSTON, Mass. – Senior Heather Longley (North Granby, Conn.) recorded 10 kills, three blocks, and hit .471 to help the Lasell College women's volleyball team post a 3-0 win over Wentworth Institute of Technology in a non-conference match played at Tansey Gymnasium. With the win the Lasers improve to 2-10 while the Leopards fall to 4-5.

Lasell jumped out to an early lead in the opening set as sophomore Michele Canestro (Castleton, N.Y.) served the first four points of the match, which included a pair of aces. Wentworth would pull within three (6-3) on a freshman Abagail Ahern (Barrington, N.H.) service ace, however the Lasers used a 6-1 run to take a 12-4 lead and would lead by as any as 12 (21-9) after a Canestro ace. Wentworth clawed its way back to pull within six (24-18) after a freshman Sarah Hyndman (Encinitas, Calif.) ace, however, Longley ended the set with a kill. 

Canestro led the Lasers with four kills and three aces in the set while sophomore Caroline Shea (Abington, Mass.) had a pair of kills for the Black & Gold.

The second set saw five ties early with Lasell tying the set at 6-all after a service error, which started a 5-1 spurt and would give the visitors a 10-7 lead. The Lasers would swell the lead to as many as four on three occasions, including at 15-11 on an attack error, before Wentworth would make it a 17-16 contest on a kill from senior Hannah Bailey (Plymouth, Mass.). However, that would be as close as the Leopards would get as Lasell scored eight of the final nine points to take a 2-0 lead with a 25-17 win.

Longley led Lasell in the second frame with six kills and did not commit a single error on seven swings, while Hyndman had three kills on three swings for Wentworth. Lasell hit .318 as a team in the set.

The Lasers jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the early stages of the third set and led for most of the way before Wentworth would tie the set at 18-all after an attack error from the visitors. Sophomore Sydney Meyers (Washington, D.C.) would tie the set at 19-all, however three straight Lasell points gave the visitors the lead for good at 22-19. The Leopards made it a 23-21 set off a service error but would get no closer as an attack error and a kill ended the match.

Canestro had three kills for Lasell in the set while Meyers and Bailey had four kills apiece for Wentworth.

In addition to Longley's 10 kills, Canestro had seven kills, three aces, and eight digs and senior Sharisse Scott-Rawlins (Brockton, Mass.) had six kills and hit .385. Sophomore Taylor Tiezzi (Meriden, Conn.) had 23 assists.

Wentworth was led by Meyers and Bailey who each had seven kills. Ahern had three aces, junior Amanda Hunton (Monroe, N.Y.) had 22 assists, and freshman Lillie Clark (Vista, Claif.) had 11 digs.

The Leopards will host Lesley and Worcester State in a tri-match on Saturday while Lasell is at Smith for a tri-match with Babson.

Recap Courtesy of Wentworth Sports Information