Ferchland Crosses 1,000 Kill Threshold in Afternoon Split for Women’s Volleyball

Newport, RI| Senior Heather Ferchland recorded her 1,000th-career kill as the St. Joseph's College women's volleyball team (2-1) split a non-conference tri-match on Saturday afternoon in Newport, RI. The Golden Eagles fell to Rhode Island College (1-2) in four sets in the opener before defeating the host Salve Regina (2-1) in three sets in the finale.

It was the Golden Eagles that grabbed the first two points of the match against Rhode Island, but the Anchormen would rally for the next six points to grab a 6-2 led. St. Joseph's responded with five points of their own, nudging ahead 7-6, but it would be the last lead they held in the set. Rhode Island scored the next six points before before cruising to the 25-17 win.

After surrendering the first three points of the second set, the Golden Eagles went on a 14-5 run to build a 14-8 lead. Rhode Island would creep back and push ahead 22-21, but a kill by senior Tiffany Willms followed by a service ace by junior Courtney Wickline moved St. Joseph's back into the lead before narrowly winning the set 25-23.

The third set was point-for-point, and the Golden Eagles led 13-12, but Rhode Island registered 13 of the final 16 points to pull ahead 2-1 in the match.

St. Joseph's had the opportunity to force a fifth set, and even led 6-2 and 15-12, but the Golden Eagles were credited with five-straight errors and the Anchormen assumed 17-15 lead. A kill by junior Kiersten Kissinger and a service ace by sophomore Claire Urizzo brought the teams back level at 17, but Rhode Island scored seven of the last 10 points, claiming the set 25-20 and the match 3-1.

Ferchland—who was tied for the team lead with eight kills—registered her 1,000th-career kill in the fourth set on a point that would tie the two sides at 11.

Sharing the team kill lead in the match was Kissinger, who also recorded a block and an ace. Wickline was credited with 22 aces in her first match after setting a career-high of 49 on Wednesday evening against Baruch College. Wickline also led the Golden Eagles with 14 digs.

St. Joseph's responded well in the second match against Salve Regina, scoring six of the first set's initial eight points. Later on, the Golden Eagles led 12-8, but the hosts strung together four points to tie the set at 12. The two sides would swap points for the remainder of the frame, and were even tied 23-23, but a Salve Regina attacking error and a Ferchland kill would give the Golden Eagles the set win and a 1-0 lead.

The Seahawks would jump out to an early 4-1 lead in set two, but St. Joseph's fired back with six-straight points that ended with a Kissinger kill of a pass from Wickline. After surrendering the next point, the Golden Eagles would rally for four more to extend their lead to 11-5. After building their largest lead of the afternoon (22-13), St. Joseph's would let their opponents back into the game, allowing the next four points, but two errors by the Seahawks ensured the guests would earn a 2-0 lead.

After jumping out to a 6-1 lead in the third, St. Joseph's allowed Salve Regina to rally for eight of the next 10 points to take the lead at 9-8. The Seahawks would maintain that lead until the Golden Eagles would rally the next five points after being down 17-14 to take the 19-17 lead. An attack error by Claire Urizzo allowed Salve Regina to tie the game at 20, but a Ferchland kill followed by four-straight Seahawks errors paved the way for St. Joseph's second win of the season.

Kissinger fired at a .407 attack rate and registered a game-high 14 kills while adding a solo block and a block assists. Ferchland had a .400 kill percentage, going 12-25 on attacks.

Wickline's 33 assists were a game-high, as were junior Erin Kelly's 14 digs.

The Golden Eagles are off for nearly a week, but return to action on Friday, September 11, when they travel to FDU-Florham for another non-conference tri-match. St. Joseph's will face the hosts at 4:00 PM and St. Lawrence at 6:00 PM.