Volleyball drops first MASCAC tilt at Worcester in five sets

Leicester, MA- The Worcester State volleyball team received a match best 28 kills and 12 digs from Jennifer Cabral in leading the Lancers to a 3-2 upset victory of the MASCAC leading MCLA Trailblazers this evening in a match played at Becker College.  With the win, the Lancers improve to 9-15 overall and are at 2-3 in conference play. 

MCLA suffers their first conference setback and now stand at 4-1 in the league and 19-8 overall.  Allison Clark finished with a double double effort of 24 kills and 18 digs to lead the Trailblazers.

Worcester State never trailed in the deciding fifth set.  They opened up an early 5-1 lead before MCLA came storming back behind a pair of Clark kills and Margaret Allen service aces to tie it at 5-5.  The Lancers would respond with a kill from Cabral and never trail again.  They would eventually lead 14-11 and close out MCLA on a service error.

MCLA cruised in the opening set earning a 25-19 win before the Lancers took set two 25-20.  Game three got off to a good start for the Lancers who led 6-1 early and eventually held a 23-21 lead forcing an MCLA timeout.  After the stoppage, the Trailblazers ran off four straight points which began with a Clark kill and they went on to take the pivotal game three 25-23.  The Lancers rebounded as they led the entire way in game four and eventually took the set 25-18 forcing the deciding fifth set.

Clark tallied her 24 kills on 60 attacks.  She was aided on offense by Rachel Mills who had a season best 11 kills.  Samantha Anderson ended the night with 8 kills and Allen added 7.  Courtney Parent set the offense with 23 assists and Beatrice Lechler added 20.  On defense, Chanielle Enomoto added 12 digs and Brittney Pihl added 10.

Cabral was a wrecking ball on offense getting her 28 kills on 60 attacks.  Emily Carens added 9 kills to assist Cabral.  Janika Townsend had a great night setting up as she collected 47 assists on the evening.  Elexi Miskiv notched 17 digs while Kaylee Leduc added 15 for the Lancers. 

Even with the defeat, MCLA remains atop the MASCAC with one conference game remaining.  They will play an out of conference tri -match on Saturday at UMass Dartmouth with Plymouth State.