Women’s Volleyball Splits on Final Day of Colonial Invitational

Written by Andrew Capitelli

Danbury, CT| The St. Joseph's College (L.I.) women's volleyball team split two matches on the final day of the Colonial Invitational at Western Connecticut St. on Saturday afternoon, defeating Simmons in a five-set thriller before dropping a three-set match to Colby-Sawyer.

The Golden Eagles wrap tournament play with a 1-2 record and will play FDU-Florham in their home opener on Saturday, September 10.

SJC 3, Simmons 2

The Golden Eagles edged Simmons in a thrilling five-set match to start the afternoon, coming back from a 2-1 set deficit to narrowly win 17-15 in the fifth set.

After dropping the first set 25-15, SJC found itself up 12-10 midway through the second frame and used a 7-0 run to pull ahead 19-10. Simmons inched back with a 6-0 run of its own but the Golden Eagles fended off the comeback attempt and clinched a 25-22 victory with senior Courtney Bocchieri's set-winning kill.

Simmons took the third set 25-17 and looked poised to win the match in the fourth set after taking a 23-22 lead following Abby Hart's kill. But consecutive errors by the Sharks saw the Golden Eagles go ahead 24-23 before senior Courtney Wickline's ace forced a fifth set.

Down 9-6 in the final frame, SJC strung together seven straight points to go up 13-9, but Simmons responded with a four-point stretch to knot the set at 13. Junior Morgan Tiska's kill put the Golden Eagles on the brink of victory, but consecutive points for the Sharks turned the tables. With the match on the line Tiska recorded a kill to tie the set at 15, and after a Simmons attack error, the Suffolk County CC transfer fired SJC to victory with her team-best 11th kill of the match.

Augmenting the SJC attack, which generated 39 kills to Simmons' 55, was Bocchieri, who was credited with 10 kills, and Urizzo, who contributed six. Wickline, who had a team-high 36 assists, served up a game-best five service aces, and sophomore Danielle Senecal was credited with a team-best 17 digs.

Coby-Sawyer 3, SJC 0

SJC carried the play at the start of the first frame and built a 10-5 lead which later became a 14-11 advantage. A 6-0 Colby-Sawyer run put the Golden Eagles down 17-14, but behind a 5-2 run SJC knotted the score up at 19. Despite the comeback effort, the Chargers edged the Golden Eagles to take the set 25-23 and used that momentum to take the second set 25-18.

Down 4-0 early in the third, SJC struggled to gain traction but later came to within two points (12-10) of the Chargers, although it would be the closest they'd come before dropping the deciding frame 25-20.

Senior Kiersten Kissinger led SJC in kills (8), while Bocchieri and Urizzo chipped in with five and four kills, respectively. Wickline (18) and Senecal (14) led the Golden Eagles in assists and digs.

Colby-Sawyer's Naarah Cox led all players with nine kills.