PREVIEW: Women's Volleyball Travels to Powerhouse JWU For GNAC Semifinals

NEWTON, Mass. (11/1/17) -- The Lasell College women's volleyball team will travel to nationally-ranked No. 11 Johnson & Wales for a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Semifinal match-up on Thursday November 2 at 7:30p.m.

Lasell swept fifth-seed Regis in Tuesday's GNAC Quarterfinal. The Lasers victory marks their first postseason win for the program since 2007, breaking a decade long drought. In the first set, the Lasers set the tempo early winning 25-9. Regis gave the Lasers a scare in the second set, but ultimately dropped it 25-22. Lasell would continue their success, clinching the match 25-16 in the third set.

Junior Olivia Addington (Orange, Calif.) recorded her 1000th career kill early in the final set enroute to the Lasers' 3-0 Quarterfinal victory. Addington becomes just the third Lasell women's volleyball player to reach 1,000 career kills, and the first since 2011. In 33 matches this season, Addington has boasted a career high 436 Kills, and also tied her career high for digs at 314.

Senior Caitlyn Garcia (Moreno Valley, Calif.) continues her milestone senior campaign, adding 12 digs in the victory to her career high 646 digs this season. Taylor Tiezzi (Meriden, Conn.) recorded 30 assists in the Quarterfinal, bring her career total to 2867 assists.

The Wildcats are in the midst of a perfect season, and come into the match with an untouched 30-0 record, including 12-0 in GNAC action. Over the course of 30 wins, Johnson & Wales has only dropped four sets; beating New York University and Wesleyan in four sets each before dropping two sets to Juniata College on October 21st.

Johnson & Wales will look for another big performance from sophomore Maria Coniglio (Old Bethpage, N.Y.), who leads the Wildcats with 251 kills. Coniglio also has a team second-best 239 digs. Freshman Elyssa Nicolas (Brisbane, Calif.) leads the Wildcats with 331 digs, including 78 in her last five matches. Sophomore Brylee Frank (Palm City, Fla.) leads the Wildcats with 914 assists this season, and sits only 13 away from 2000 in her career.

The Semifinal is set to for 7:30p.m. Thursday at the Wildcat Center, and can be viewed live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/jwuri/.