Box Score
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (September 2, 2009) – The new-look Vassar women’s volleyball team, featuring six returning players and seven newcomers, opened its 2009 season impressively at Kenyon Hall Wednesday night, sweeping past Rutgers-Newark 25-6, 25-10 and 25-10.
The Brewers will next travel to Manhattanville College on Saturday, September 5 for a 12:00 p.m. match. Rutgers-Newark, now 0-2 on the season, will next play in the NYU Labor Day Invitational this Saturday and Sunday.
It was an impressive debut for the Brewers, who jumped out to commanding leads in each set and kept the pressure on the Scarlet Raiders with strong defense and a powerful attack game. The Brewers got 15 of their 26 kills from freshman newcomers, including a match-high six kills from freshman
Christina Verdirame.
To open the match, the Brewers jumped out to a quick 13-4 lead, getting momentum building kills from seniors
Tess Johnson and
Sarah Potts along with sophomore
Amy Bavosa. With the score 14-5, freshman
Chloe McGuire won eight straight points off her serve, including five service aces, solidifying a 25-6 first set win.
In the second set, Vassar won the first nine points with kills from Verdirame and freshman
Cebe Loomis. Rutgers-Newark was able to close a big Vassar lead to 20-10 on an attack error, but the Brewers won the final five points, getting a pair of kills from Loomis during the run, for a 25-10 win.
In the decisive third set Rutgers-Newark went ahead 3-2 against a Vassar lineup with five freshmen and a junior. The Brewers scored the next five points behind three service aces from McGuire. Even though the match went back and forth for a stretch, Vassar got three aces from Verdirame to push its lead to 20-7 and capture the set 25-10.
In total, eight Brewers earned kills. Following Verdirame, a trio of three players -- Potts, McGuire and Loomis -- each had four kills. Freshman Hillary Koenigs led the Brewers with 16 assists and junior
Chelsea Mottern had six digs. McGuire had eight aces.
Rutgers-Newark was led by sophomore Toni Moppert with four kills and 10 digs and junior Gabi Mangieri with 14 assists and three digs.