Stevens into NCAA Regional Semifinals with 3-0 Sweep of Framingham; Ducks Host Roger Williams Saturday at 6 p.m.
Rob Kulish
Bracket | Tournament Webpage
Stevens Press Conference | Match Point
HOBOKEN, N.J. (November 14, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team advanced to the Regional Semifinals of the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship with a 3-0 sweep over Framingham State College in the opening round of the tournament Friday night in the Canavan Arena.
Stevens will host Rogers Williams University Saturday at 3 p.m. for a berth in Sunday's Hoboken Regional Final.
After a tight first set in which the Ducks prevailed 25-21, Stevens cruised, taking the second, 25-19, and the third by a huge 25-6 margin.
First Set
Framingham St. (23-12) jumped out to an early 3-1 margin, and extended its lead to 8-5 early in the opening stanza. A service error slowed the Rams' momentum and back-to-back service aces from senior
Katie Hall tied the score at eight.
FSU would build a two-point margin again, but a 5-1 run from the Ducks put the hosts up 14-12 and they would not trail again in the set. On several occasions, FSU fought back from a three-point hole, the latest and closest being, 19-18, but the Ducks always had the answer. Sophomore
Mary Tobin put away a kill to make it 20-18 Stevens, and after a Ram point, a service error and Tobin kill put the Ducks up three at 22-19. FSU again closed within two, but Stevens ended the set notching four of the final five scores to earn the 25-21 opening-set victory.
Second Set
The Rams opened the second set strong, taking an early 4-1 edge, but the Ducks roared back to take a 6-5 lead. The two teams traded markers before an 8-8 deadlock turned into an 18-11 lead for the Ducks behind kills from sophomore
Christina Sciarra, junior
Annemarie Thomas, freshman
Brianna Evans and Hall.
Framingham did battle back, getting within four, but the Ducks were able to hold on and take the set 25-19 with the clinching kill from Hall.
Third Set
The third set in this one was never in doubt as Stevens was in control throughout. Tobin ended things with eight-straight points on her serve, as the Ducks had streaks of six points behind the serve of senior
Ashley Castillo, three points behind Hall's serve, four-straight from Sciarra and the eight from Tobin.
Castillo led the Ducks with 24 assists, nine digs, three aces and two block assists, with Thomas notching eight kills on 12 attempts and three block assists. Tobin had seven kills, two aces and six digs, and Sciarra had eight kills and two block assists. Evans had five kills and three aces, with Hall getting five kills, three aces and three block assists. Freshman libero
Sydni Horner finished with five assists and a team-high 14 digs. Junior
Catie Shelton tallied six digs as well for the Ducks.
Stevens had an attacking percentage of .232 on the match, while holding FSU to a .074.
Rogers Williams earned a 3-0 win over Western Connecticut State University to setup Saturday's matchup with Stevens who is now 32-6 on the season.
The other Hoboken, N.J. Regional Semifinal will be between Clarkson University and Tufts University. Clarkson is seeded first in the eight-team region and Tufts is seeded fourth. RWU is the third-seeded team and Stevens is second.