Endicott Falls in ECAC DIII New England Finals; VandeMerkt Sets Career High Against WNE

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.- After defeating the University of Southern Maine on Wednesday in ECAC DIII New England quarterfinal action on Wednesday, the #4 Endicott women's volleyball team traveled to Western New England to play the #1 Golden Bears in the semifinals.  Following a 3-2 upset of their CCC foes, the Gulls advanced to the finals for the first time since 2010 where they faced another CCC opponent in Salve Regina, ultimately falling 3-0 to close out the season with an 18-17 record.

MATCH 1: (#4) Endicott 3 (#1) Western New England 2 (25-14, 25-21, 21-25, 21-25, 15-10)

Squaring off against the Golden Bears for the second time this season, the Gulls were able to avenge a 3-0 loss from early in November and claimed a thrilling five set victory to eliminate Western New England (WNE) from ECAC play.  The win meant Endicott would appear in their first ECAC final since 2010 and snapped a three match losing streak to WNE while improving Endicott's overall record against the Golden Bears to 12-4 all-time.  

After claiming the first set 25-14, the Gulls extended the lead to 2-0 by taking the second set by a 25-21 score.  Fighting to stave off elimination, the Golden Bearrs would claim the third and fourth sets by identical 25-21 scores to force a fifth set which the Gulls would claim by a 15-10 score.  

In the first, it was Endicott's offense that carried them to victory as the Gulls hit .433 while limiting the Golden Bears to a .139 clip.  The second set actually saw the hosts actually out-hit Endicott .222 to .186, but it was the Gulls who escaped with a 25-21 win push Western New England to the brink of elimination.  WNE would answer back, firing off back to back set wins of 25-21 by playing stifling defense in the third and recording an astounding 21 kills in the fourth to advance to a winner take all fifth set.  In the fifth, the Gulls would hit at a .296 clip (9-1-27) while holding WNE to a .167 average (6-2-24) to advance to the finals.

Overall for the match, Endicott was led by junior Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) as the setter set a new career high for assists with 55 while also chipping in 10 assists to record her ninth double-double of the season.  Two of her favorite targets in the match were her outsides as sophomore Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) and freshman Elise Morgan (Holbrook, Mass.) combined to tally 28 kills with just four errors on 92 attempts to hit .261.  McIntyre's 16 kills (16-3-55) were tied for the match high while her 18 digs were second on the team and tied for fourth in the match.  Morgan was spectacular, notching 12 kills (12-1-37) while also chipping in three digs and three assist blocks.  Sophomore middle Hayley Knapp (Valencia, Calif.) hit a team high .344 in the win as she was second on the team with 14 kills on 32 attempts while also tying for second in assist blocks with three.

Defensively, libero Erika Trudon (Coventry, Conn.), who was named AVCA All-New England Honorable Mention on Wednesday, led the Gulls with 28 digs to go along with one ace in the five set thriller.  Senior Jessica Petrucci (Cape Coral, Fla.) and freshman Cydney Pierce (Santa Barbara, Calif.) finished with 14 and 11 digs respectively as they finished third and fourth on the team.

WNE was led by Kasey Cameron's (Reading, Mass.) 16 kills (16-8-52) and 21 digs.  Her 21 digs were second only to Grace Kucharski's (Avon, Conn.) 34 digs which were a match high.  Olivia Lathrop (Farmington, Conn.) also had a strong match, notching 15 kills while hitting .326 (15-1-43).  Setters Jenna Leuck (Dumont, N.J.) and Jessica Sincero (Verplanck, N.Y.) finished with 29 and 27 assists, respectively.

MATCH 2: (#4) Endicott 0 (#2) Salve Regina 3 (19-25, 21-25, 14-25)

Coming off of their five set thriller against top seeded Western New England, Endicott couldn't match the energy from Salve Regina and fell 3-0 to the Seahawks in the ECAC DIII New England final.  With the loss, the Gulls closed their season at 18-17 overall with trips to the CCC semifinals and ECAC finals while Salve Regina ends their season at 23-10 with a CCC finals appearance and ECAC title.  

Leading the Gulls in defeat was Alleigh VandeMerkt as the setter produced her 10th double-double of the season, dishing out 28 assists and picking up 12 digs.  Offensively, Tori McIntyre tallied a team high nine kills on 36 attempts while Hayley Knapp finished with seven of her own.  Lexi Watts and Elise Morgan each finished with six as libero Erika Trudon picked up eight digs to close out her sophomore campaign with 487 digs for an average of 4.87/set.  Endicott's lone senior Jessica Petrucci closed out her Endicott career with one ace and six digs in the setback.

Salve Regina was led by senior outside Jennifer Duggan's (Merrimack, N.H.) 15 kills and senior opposite Katelyn Beauregard's nine kills on 18 attempts without any errros for a .500 clip.  Fellow seniors Taylor Violet (Tiverton, R.I.) dished out a match high 34 assists while Dianna Tauro (Melrose, Mass.) finished with a match high 16 digs.