September 22, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703

Volleyball Finishes 2-2 at MIT Invitational

Northampton, MA: The Pioneers defeated Endicott and Colby 3-0 but dropped matches to Williams and Bowdoin by the same score at the MIT Invitational this weekend.

On Friday evening, the Pioneers dropped their opening match to Williams 21-30, 28-30, and 19-30.  Senior Katie Shafer (Red Bluff, CA) led the team with 9 kills and 15 digs and teammate Mikal Minarich (Hobart, IN) added 8 kills with 14 assists.  In the second match of the evening, Smith defeated Endicott 30-24, 30-24, and 31-29. First year Lauren Martinez (Phoenix, AZ) notched 21 assists with two service aces while Shafer had 12 kills and 17 digs and Minarich contributed with 16 kills and 7 assists.

Today's action found Smith pitted against Bowdoin and the Pioneers fell 30-26, 31-29, and 30-21. Martinez tallied 15 assists, Shafer 8 kills and 28 digs and Minarich added 10 kills and 10 assists.  The final match of the day for Smith was against Colby College and the Pioneers took the first game 36-34 and then followed with 30-21 and 30-17 victories.  Martinez had a team high 24 assists with two service aces and 8 digs; Brianne Connizzo (Demarest, NJ) served four aces and had 17 digs, Shafer added 19 digs and combined with Minarich for 23 kills.

The Pioneers will host valley and NEWMAC rival Mount Holyoke College on Tuesday night at 7 pm.