September 6, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703
Smith Volleyball Sweeps Elms & Westfield
Northampton, MA: The Pioneers opened their 2008 season with a 3-0 sweep of both Elms and Westfield State Colleges while Westfield picked up its first victory of the season with a 3-0 defeat of Elms.
In the first match of the day, Smith defeated Elms 25-6, 25-15 and 25-19. Junior Mikal Minarich (Hobart, IN) led the Pioneers with 7 kills, 2 service aces and 5 blocks. Sophomore Alexandra Rissi (Scottsdale, AZ) and junior Bethany Weiss (Windham, NH) each added 6 kills and combined for five blocks. Sophomore Lauren Martinez (Phoeniz, AZ) was the team's assist leader with 23 and served five aces. Senior Jeannette Nunez (Canovanas, Puerto Rico) had 4 kills, 2 aces and 1 solo block while Kim Phillips (Randolph, MA) added 9 assists for Elms.
In the Elms/Westfield matchup, Westfield defeated Elms 25-18, 25-15 and 25-16. First year Alex Wahl (East Falmouth, MA) had 7 kills, 14 assists and 3 block assists for the Owls. Stephanie Bartkus (North Merrick, NY) added 6 kills and 16 digs while Kerin DeGirolamo (North Attleboro, MA) contributed with 11 assists and four service aces. Nunez again led Elms with 7 kills, while Stacy Croteau (Agawam, MA) had 6 digs, 2 kills and one service ace.
Minarich and Rissi teamed up for 52 kills in Smith's 25-12, 27-25, 26-24 defeat of Westfield State in the final match. Minarich also tallied a team high 11 digs with two block asssists. Brianne Connizzo (Demarest, NJ) added 10 digs while Martinez tallied 29 assists. Caitlin Kirby (Medway, MA) had a game high 18 digs for Westfield; Wahl tallied 7 kills with 6 assists while DeGirolamo added 8 asssists with 3 aces.
The Pioneers will travel to Brandeis next weekend to compete in the Brandeis Invitational.
Smith (1-0) 25 25 25
Elms (0-2) 6 15 19
Westfield (1-1) 25 25 25
Elms (0-3) 18 15 16
Smith (2-0) 25 27 26
Westfield (1-2) 13 25 24
