WVB: Lasers Defeat Top Ranked Simmons, Advance to GNAC Championship

Boston, MA - The Lasell University Women's Volleyball team continued a historic season by defeating topped rank Simmons in four sets by a final score of 22-25, 25-16, 25-13, 25-23. The win moves the Lasers record to 26-4 on the season, while the Sharks are now 22-8. The Sharks had gone 15-0 in GNAC play during the regular season.

It was a back and forth first set, but the Lasers held the lead for most of it. They seemingly took control with a 5-0 run late to make it 21-17, but the Sharks had other ideas, and went on a 7-0 run to take a lead. The two teams would trade the last two points, giving the Sharks a 25-22 set win.

The second set began no different, back and forth the teams went. The Sharks held a 12-9 lead, but the Lasers would go on a 7-0 run that featured six Shark errors to take the 16-12 lead. The Lasers did not look back from there, and cruised to a 25-16 set win, taking it on a McKenna McCool kill.

The third set told a similar story to the second, as the Sharks grabbed an early lead at 7-5. But after things became tied at nine, the Lasers utilized a 4-0 run that featured kills from Juliana Medini, Emily VanHouten, and Tori Scambray. After the Sharks got a point back, the Lasers went on a 10-1 run, which once again was helped by six Shark errors. The Lasers would close out the set for a 25-13 set win.

The fourth set saw the Lasers get out to the early lead, jumping ahead 10-4. The teams would trade some points before the Sharks went on a 7-2 run to close the gap to one at 17-16. After a Lasell point, the Sharks seemingly grabbed momentum with a 6-0 run to take a 22-18 set lead, and were primed to force a fifth set. But the Lasers remained composed, and answered with a 6-0 run of their own to grab a 24-22 lead. After an attacking error from McCool made it 24-23, she redeemed herself by clinching the match with a kill, giving the Lasers the fourth set 25-23, and the match 3-1.

It was a four-headed attack from the Lasers, as McKenna McCool and Juliana Medini each had 10 kills, while Emily VanHouten and Kyra Paris each had 9. Running the offense was Sydney Katz, collecting 26 set assists. It was a well rounded performance on defense as well, led by Maddie Caro's 22 digs. Dating back to the 2006 season, Caro's 22 digs are the second most in school history in a playoff game, trailing only herself, when she posted 25 in a playoff game against Elms last year. Katz and McCool each had 11 digs, giving each of them a double-double. VanHouten added nine digs herself. The Lasers were also stellar at the net, totaling 22 blocks, with Medini having seven and VanHouten with six.

This will be the first GNAC championship match for the women's volleyball program. They last played in a conference final in 2006, when they played in the NAC Championship.

Up Next - The Lasers will head down the road to Weston, MA to take on the number two seed Regis on Saturday at 1pm in the GNAC Championship.