Volleyball sees streak come to an end as they fall to Amherst 3-1

Courtesy of Amherst Sports Information

AMHERST, Mass. – First year setter Jacqueline Kortekaas recorded 46 assists in her first career start and Amherst College shrugged off an opening set loss to defeat MCLA 3-1 in non-conference women's volleyball action on Saturday afternoon at LeFrak Gymnasium.

After the Trailblazers collected a 25-21 win to open proceedings, Amherst buckled down and emphatically won the final three sets, 25-10, 25-10 and 25-8.

Kortekaas made just one ball handling error on 101 setting attempts, and also pitched in with three service aces, three block assists and 10 digs.

Sophie Launsbach '22 had 17 kills and Jamie Dailey '21 added 15 kills in the victory for the Mammoths (10-1). First year Caroline Tilton had her first career double-digit game with 10 kills in just two sets played and a hitting percentage of .692.

The Mammoths led 21-17 in the opening set, but would not win another point as the Trailblazers ripped off nine straight points, helped by two kills from Madison Jayne and a service ace from Tessa Sestito.

MCLA (9-5) got five kills from Jayne and four from Kelly Moczulski in the opening set, while also recording 18 digs and forcing Amherst into just a .100 hitting percentage.

Launsbach did have seven kills in the first game, and finished the game with a .762 hitting percentage with 17 kills and just one error on 21 swings.

Amherst jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second set and never trailed the rest of the afternoon. They opened up a 14-6 lead in the second set, an 18-6 lead in the third and a 16-4 advantage in the fourth game.

After siding out at a 54% clip in the first set, MCLA slipped below the 40% mark for the next three games, while Amherst was above 75% siding out in the three sets where they were victorious.

Skyleur Savage '22 led all players with 22 digs, while the Trailblazers got 14 digs out of Moczulski, who ended the day with a team-high 10 kills. Emily Kolsky '20 added eight kills and a blcok assist, while Claire Dennis '20 was in on three blocks as well to go with her three kills.

Jayne finished with nine kills for MCLA, and Sestito earned the lion's share of assists, with 17, to go along with 7 digs and a service ace.

Chloe Chanren '23 earned her first collegiate kill, dig and block assist in the fourth set for the Mammoths.  

Amherst will be home next Friday evening for their next game, a 6:00 PM non-conference matchup against UMass Boston.