NORTON, Mass. - The Worcester State University women's volleyball team suffered a pair of straight-set defeats Friday against Middlebury and Wheaton at the Wheaton Invite. Set scores against Middlebury were 25-9, 25-17, 25-15, and against Wheaton 25-15, 26-24, 25-16.
With the losses, Worcester State falls to 1-5 on the season.
The Lancers fell short early in the first set against Middlebury. Down 13-5 the Lancers took a timeout to reset and a pair of kills from Klea Xhemollari (Worcester, Mass.) and Angela Colonis (Waterford, Conn.) looked like it may get the team rolling. However, they were unable to come up with enough to overtake the Panthers.
The Lancers opened the second set down 11-1, but they weren't going to go down without a fight. Three service aces from Brooke Lamothe (Tewksbury, Mass.) and three kills from Leelle Tyler (Longmeadow, Mass.) helped the Lancers claw back on the board, but a pair of Middlebury kills closed out the second set 25-17.
The third set had the Lancers within a two point margin early, but were never able to take the lead from the Panthers. Natalie Gillis (Ashland, Mass.) and Tyler each had three kills in the set to lead the offense.
Tyler led the Lancers with ten kills in the opener. Junior Camryn Burgio (Quincy, Mass.) led defensively with eight digs for Worcester State.
The Lancers stayed on pace with the Lyons in the opening set of the nightcap. However, Tyler's four kills in the set wasn't enough to put Worcester State on top.
Worcester State finally found their groove offensively in the second set against Wheaton where they saw five tied scores. A Maeve Cadogan (Wilmington, Mass.) service ace and Colonis kill was enough to force the Lyons to have to win by two to take the second set.
The Lancers fell behind early in the third set but a Burgio service run allowed the Lancers to climb up to 16 points in the set and only fall 25-16.
Colonis led the Lancers statistically in the second loss with six kills, 11 assists and picked up ten digs.
Worcester State heads back to the court tomorrow to finish out the Wheaton Invite when they face Farmingdale State and Rhode Island College. First serves are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
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