November 8, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703

Volleyball Falls to Colby-Sawyer In ECAC Quarterfinals

Northampton, MA: The Pioneers fell to Colby-Sawyer 3-1 in the quarterfinals of the ECAC New England Volleyball Championship last night in New London, NH and conclude their season with a 17-15 overall record.

In the opening game, the teams traded points and were tied at 11-11 before Colby-Sawyer took advantage of some Smith hitting errors to increase their lead.  The Chargers then went on a 9-5 run and pulled away from Smith for the 30-22 win. The second game again found the Chargers jumping out to a 18-14 lead, but Smith fought back and tied the game up at 24 and then put together a 6-3 run to defeat the Chargers 30-27.

In game three, the Chargers jumped out to an early 17-9 lead and cruised to a 30-16 decision.  The home team again took charge in what proved to be the final game and built a six point lead (20-14). The Pioneers again fought back at tied the game at 27, but the home team tallied the next three points to win 30-27.

Senior Catherine Shafer (Red Bluff, CA) led the Pioneers with 18 kills and 21 digs and Mikal Minarich (Hobart, IN) added 7 kills and 25 assists. Lauren Martinez (Phoeniz, AZ) dished out 18 assists, Bethany Weiss (Windham, NH) tallied 11 kills and Brianne Connizzo (Demarest, NJ) 14 digs in the loss for Smith.