Volleyball soars past Fitchburg State 3-0

North Adams, MA- Chloie Garber led MCLA tonight with 15 kills and 13 digs as the Trailblazers swept Fitchburg State 25-22, 25-19, 25-19 at the Amsler Campus Center Gymnasium. With the win MCLA improves to 8-3 overall and 2-0 in the MASCAC. Fitchburg State falls to 3-6 overall and 0-3 in league play.

The Falcons would hold 1^st set leads of 9-5 and 16-12 before MCLA would even things up at 18 apiece. The Trailblazers would then take advantage of a slew of Falcon errors on their way to closing out the set 25-22.

Trailing 15-11 in the 2^nd set, the Trailblazers would run off seven straight points including six on sophomore Chloie Garber's (Eagle River, AK) serve to jump ahead 18-15. MCLA would hold the Falcons off down the stretch taking the 2^nd set 25-19.

Fitchburg State would jump out again to a 7-3 lead to begin the 3^rd set. This time MCLA would catch the Falcons at 11-all. With the visitors holding a slim 17-16 advantage, MCLA would shift gears finishing the set on a 9-2 run which was highlighted by consecutive service aces by first year Anais Badio (Las Vegas, NV). The Trailblazers would take the set 25-19 and complete the 3-0 sweep.

Badio would finish with 6 kills, 6 digs and 3 aces. First year Shannon O'Brien (Unionville, CT) would have a game high 24 assists while classmate Elizabeth Brown (Lee, MA) had 12 digs.

First year Gabrielle Griffiths (Bedford, MA) led Fitchburg with 6 kills. Junior Emily Gelinas (Westfield, MA) contributed 8 digs and 12 assists in the losing effort.

Fitchburg State will next take the court this Saturday for a pair of nonconference matches against Union (NY) and tri-match host Suffolk University. MCLA will travel to Framingham State Friday evening at 6pm for an all-important MASCAC match against the defending champs.