Gulls Claim Brandeis Invitational Title; Move to 4-0 on the Season

WALTHAM, Mass.- The Endicott women's volleyball team moved to a perfect 4-0 on the season after defeating the University of Southern Maine and Brandeis by identical 3-0 sweeps. With the wins, the Gulls clinched the Brandeis Invitational title after also defeating Keene State on Friday by a  3-1 score to post a 3-0 record at the Invitational.

Endicott was led by all-tournament performer Lauren Sheehan (Bainbridge, Wash.) who collected her first all-tournament distinction of her college career. The outside led the team with 30 kills for the weekend, posting 3.00/set while hitting at a .314 clip. She also contributed 19 digs to the team's defensive efforts, giving her 1.9/set.

Saturday's matches also saw middle Hayley Knapp (Valencia, Calif.) flourish at both ends as she hit an astounding .475 for the weekend to lead the team after posting matches of nine, four, and eight kills. In the first two matches, she combined to post 13 kills on 21 error-free swings. Knapp was also the team leader in blocks at the Invitational, posting three solo and four assist blocks.

The defensive efforts were led all weekend by libero Cydney Pierce (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) who combined to pick up 64 digs on the weekend. Pierce championed the defensive front with 3.6 digs/set, while McIntyre averaged 2.8 to go along with 1.8 digs/set.

Setters Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) and Mareena Clotfelter (Poulsbo, Wash.)  combined for 108 of the team's 124 assists on the weekend while also complimenting the defensive performance, posting a combined 36 digs in the 3-0 weekend. 

BEYOND THE BOX

• With the 3-0 win over Brandeis, Endicott improves to 5-14 all-time against the Judges as the Gulls have now swept the last three straight meetings.
• The Gulls have now swept the Huskies of Southern Maine in both of their two meetings dating back to last year when Endicott won in the ECAC DIII New England Quarterfinals.
• The current 4-0 start is the best start to a season in Endicott women's volleyball history.

FOR THE FOES

Southern Maine:
The Huskies saw outside Jess Williamson  (Goffstown, N.H.) lead the offensive attack for the second straight season against the Gulls as the sophomore led the team with eight kills in the setback.

Demi Ruder (Clifton, Colo.), a senior libero that tied with Williamson for the team lead with 13 digs, also tied for the team lead in digs in 2014's ECAC DIII New England Tournament loss to the Gulls with 11.

The Huskies were able to cut their reception errors in half from last season's loss which in turn helped to boost the Huskies offense from 23 to 26 kills in 2015.

Brandeis:
Grace Krumpack's (Cincinnati, Ohio) 10 kills and .296 average were the best offensive performances for a Judge since Carly Gutner-Davis ('14) notched 10 kills, while hitting .300 in 2013's three set loss to the Gulls.

Yvette Cho (San Diego, Calif.) led the Brandeis defensive effort with 17 digs and actually has a strong connection to Endicott as two of her former high school teammates at Rancho Bernardo High School, Lexi Watts (San Diego, Calif.) and McIntyre, play for the Gulls.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott returns home for their next three matches as the Gulls take on Emerson on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 7:00 p.m. before hosting day one of the MIT Invitational on Friday, Sept. 11 where Endicott squares off against a pair of NESCAC foes in Bates and Bowdoin, beginning at 4:30 p.m. That is the last home match for nearly two and a half weeks as the Gulls take to the road until September 26 when they play host to Wentworth in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opener. 

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