Women's Volleyball (9-17, 1-5) Splits Pair, Wins First NEWMAC Match of Season

The Wheaton College women's volleyball team went 1-1 last week, capturing its first New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) victory of the fall, 3-0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-22) at Mount Holyoke College on Tuesday before dropping a 3-1 (17-25, 20-25, 25-21, 24-26) decision to visiting Western Connecticut State University on Friday night. Since a 2-12 start, Wheaton has gone 7-5. With three league matches remaining, the Lyons are in a three-way tie for seventh place in the conference as they look to secure one of eight NEWMAC Tournament spots.

The Blue and White recorded its fourth straight win with a sweep of Mount Holyoke. Junior Lauren Kraus (Westboro, MA/Westboro) notched 10 kills and four service aces, while freshman Miranda Howitt (San Francisco, CA/International) had nine kills and six digs. Sophomore Becca Rose (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) turned in 28 assists and three aces, classmate Kristen Hunt (Milford, CT/Jonathan Law) had eight digs and four aces, while freshman Emily Davisson (Carpinteria, CA/Laguna Blanca School) paced the squad with 17 digs.

Against Western Connecticut State, the Lyons nearly rallied from a two-set deficit to force a fifth, but the hosts saw a 24-22 edge in the fourth set wiped out. Kraus ended up with 14 kills and five blocks, Howitt had nine kills and seven digs, while Rose collected 36 assists and five aces. Senior Liana Merrill (Northwood, NH/Coe-Brown Northwood Academy) tallied seven kills, six digs and three aces, while Davisson and Hunt notched 10 and eight digs, respectively. Sophomore Kaitlyn Stokes (Tewksbury, MA/Tewksbury Memorial) added four blocks.

Rose is fifth in program history in career assists (1,910), while Kraus is eighth in blocks (214) and has 718 kills, sitting 35 shy of Wheaton's top 10. Hunt is 38 digs short of 1,000 for her career.