September 19, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703

Smith Volleyball Falls to MIT

Northampton, MA: In closely contested sets, the Pioneers fell 3-0 to MIT in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) contest this afternoon in Smith's Ainsworth Gym. With the victory, the Engineers improved to 8-2 overall and 2-0 in the conference while Smith fell to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in NEWMAC play.

In the first set, Smith was down 3-0 but came back to tie it at 3-3.  The teams tied eleven more times, the last at 21-21 before senior Cathy Melnikow (Yorkville, NY) served an ace to give the Engineers a one-point lead.  MIT tallied the next point and maintained the spread to win 25-23.

Smith took an early 6-3 lead in the second set but MIT tied it at 8 and again at 9  before putting together a 11-3 run to go up 20-12. Smith then outscored MIT 4-1 to close the gap to six at 16-21 but the Engineers closed it out at 25-17.

The Pioneers came out strong in the third set led by junior setter Lauren Martinez (Phoenix, AZ) who served back-to-back aces to give Smith a 2-0 lead. With the score 3-2, a kill by senior outside hitter Mikal Minarich (Hobart, IN) and a service ace by Shakwana Etienne (West Orange, NJ) gave the home team a 5-2 advantage. The teams exchanged points over the next few minutes till the set was tied at 13 before MIT again surged with six straight points behind the play of Trinity Leonard (Mill Valley, CA).  The Pioneers closed to within four at 18-22, but the Engineers pulled it out a 25-19.

The Pioneers were led by junior Laurel Belton (San Bernadino, CA) with 6 kills, 6 digs and 1 service ace and co-captain Bethany Weiss (Windham, NH) with 5 kills and 2 blocked shots.  Etienne and Minarich tallied 4 kills each while Courtney Faria (Pocasset, MA) and Martinez combined for 17 assists.

Senior outside hitter Alex May (Des Moines, IA) tallied 13 kills, 9 digs and 2 service aces in MIT's win.  Sophomore Kelly Schulte (Riverside, CA) registered 11 kills, 3 service aces and two blocks while first year Alyssa Rothman (Plainview, NY) contributed with 9 digs, 2 blocks and 33 assists.

                                                                  1              2           3         F
Smith (1-4, 0-2)                                        23            17         19        0
MIT (8-2, 2-0)                                          25            25         25       3