Women's Volleyball (15-11, 2-4) Posts 3-1 Mark, Rose Named All-Tournament at Wheaton

The Wheaton College women's volleyball team went 3-1 at home last week, picking up a 3-0 (25-10, 25-20, 25-21) victory on Tuesday over Mount Holyoke College in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) match before taking the runner-up spot at its own Wheaton Invitational on Saturday, when junior Becca Rose (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) was named all-tournament. The Lyons fell to eventual champion Emerson College, 3-2 (25-19, 25-15, 22-25, 22-25, 13-15) before downing Rhode Island College, 3-2 (25-20, 24-26, 25-20, 22-25, 15-12) and Gordon College, 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-23). With three NEWMAC matches remaining, Wheaton is tied for sixth in the conference, as the top eight teams qualify for the league tournament. The Blue and White's eight five-set wins are its most during the last two decades, as the Lyons have gone as far as five sets 11 times this fall, the most since the 1996 team played the same number of such contests. Prior to this season, Wheaton had eight five-set wins in its previous 112 matches since 2005.

Wheaton won for the ninth time in its last 10 meetings with Mount Holyoke, as sophomore Miranda Howitt (San Francisco, CA/International) had 11 kills and five aces. Senior Lauren Kraus (Westboro, MA/Westboro) notched seven kills, while Rose approached a triple-double with 23 assists, 10 digs and eight aces. Junior Kristen Hunt (Milford, CT/Jonathan Law) added six digs.

Against Emerson, which sits atop the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC), Howitt had 12 kills, 14 digs and three aces, while Kraus and junior Kaitlyn Stokes (Tewksbury, MA/Tewksbury Memorial) notched nine kills and three blocks apiece. Rose turned in 38 assists, 13 digs and four aces, and sophomore Emily Davisson (Carpinteria, CA/Laguna Blanca School) and Hunt had 26 and 19 digs, respectively. Freshman Olanna Nissim (Greenwich, CT/Greenwich) added 11 digs and three aces.

Howitt led the way against Rhode Island College with 24 kills and 14 digs, while Kraus had 17 kills, 11 digs and three blocks. Freshman Rachel Vergara (Needham, MA/Needham) posted seven kills and three blocks, Rose tallied 53 assists and 15 digs, and Davisson totaled 41 digs, the most by a Lyon since October 14, 2000. Hunt and Nissim contributed 15 and 12 digs, respectively, while sophomore Lauren McGrath (Shoreham, NY/Shoreham-Wading River) turned in five blocks.

Kraus totaled 13 kills and three aces versus Gordon, while Stokes had seven kills. Nissim added six kills, nine digs and three aces, and Rose contributed 35 assists and 11 digs. Davisson finished with 24 digs, while freshman Christina Cannon (Milford, NH/Milford) tallied nine.

Rose is third in program history in career assists (2,946) and seventh in aces (197), while Kraus is fifth in kills (1,067) and attacks (2,916), seventh in blocks (271), eighth in sets played (441) and 10th in aces (171). Hunt is fifth in digs (1,391). Rose has totaled the program's eighth-highest single-season assist total (902) this fall, while Howitt is 10th in attacks (994) with the most since 2000.