Montclair Box Score

Wesleyan Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (September 13, 2008) -- The Vassar women's volleyball team spilt its tri-match with Montclair State and Wesleyan this afternoon at Kenyon Hall, earning head coach Jonathan Penn his 200th career victory as women's coach in the first match. The Brewers defeated Montclair 3-0 (27-25, 25-15, 26-24) in the opening match. In their second match, Wesleyan defeated Vassar 3-0 (28-26, 25-17, 25-21). In the middle match, Montclair defeated Wesleyan (19-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-22).

Vassar 3, Montclair 0
The Brewers won their first match in high fashion, scoring eight straight points to erase a 24-18 deficit and win the third and final game of the match.

Trailing the entire game, Vassar was able to stay in the game thanks to the play of freshman Amy Basova (Eastport, NY/ Easport Southmanor), who had a number of timely kills throughout the game and totaled a team-high eight in the match.

In their 8-0 run to finish the game, three different Brewers had kills including juniors Tess Johnson (Henderson, NV/Green Valley) and Sarah Potts (Bellevue, WA/Newport), as well as senior Katie Newton (Carpinteria, CA/ Santa Barbara), who also had eight kills in the match.

The Red Hawks jumped out to an early 8-3 lead in the first game behind the spectacular play of junior Anna Chesnakova (East Brunswick, NJ, East Brunswick), who had 12 kills and 2 blocks in the match. Two aces from Potts as well as two kills from Basova allowed Vassar to tie the game at 8.

The lead went back and forth between the two teams before Johnson and Newton had consecutive kills to give Vassar the 1-0 lead in the match. The Brewers went on to win the second game easily, breaking an 8-8 tie to take a 19-10 lead thanks to a superb team effort, as five different Vassar players registered kills, including Johnson, Potts, Newton, junior hitter Caitlin Ly (Chicago, IL/Clayton) and freshman libeiro Mary-Chris Arena (Fairport, NY/Fairport). The Brewer's never looked back, taking the game 25-15. Sophomore setter Chelsea Mottern (Bound Brook, NJ/Rutgers Prep) also played well, tallying nine digs as well with ten assists.

Montclair 3, Wesleyan 1
The second match of the day featured the two visiting teams, Montclair State University and Wesleyan University. After dropping the first game 25-19, MSU was able to rally and win three straight games to take the match in four games, 19-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-22.

Down 22-18 in the fourth game, Montclair State staged their own comeback, scoring seven straight points to win the match. The depth of the Red Hawks proved too much for Wesleyan, as junior Kara Burnham (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) and sophomore Devon Johnston (Moorestown, NJ./Moorestown) each had nine kills in the match while junior Karen Martin (Sicklerville, NJ/Washington Twsp.) had eight herself. Johnston and Martin each had five digs as well.

Also contributing to the win for MSU was juniors Raisa Silva (Newark, NJ/Eastside), who had an impressive twenty assists in the match, and Christine Toskovich (Garfield, NJ/Garfield), who had tallied five service aces. For Wesleyan, senior Lisa Drennan (Ann Arbor, MI/Greenhills School) led the way with fourteen kills and four blocks, while sophomore Ruby Hernandez (West Palm Beach, FL/A.W. Dreyfoos School of Arts) had a notable nineteen digs in the match.

Wesleyan 3, Vassar 0
In the final match of the afternoon, a renewed Wesleyan team beat the Vassar Brewers three games to none, 28-26, 25-17, 25-21.

Wesleyan's Lisa Drennan dominated throughout the match, recording an amazing 23 kills and two blocks.

Vassar came out strong in the third game, grabbing an early 6-1 lead with three kills from Basova, but Wesleyan rallied to tie the game at eight before taking a 17-12 lead after a lethal kill from Drennan. The Brewers took advantage of Wesleyan errors and a couple of strong kills from Basova and Johnson to cut the lead to 19-17, but then committed attack errors themselves, allowing Wesleyan to expand their lead to 22-17.

Vassar attempted to stay in it with two kills from Ly, but could not get close enough as Wesleyan took the game 25-21 to complete the sweep.

Vassar grabbed an early 9-5 lead in the first game of the match with two stellar service aces and a block from Ly, but Wesleyan managed to tie the game at 13 with three kills from junior hitter Ashley Farrow (Evanston, IL/Evanston Township). The Brewers scored four straight points with two kills from Bavosa, but only for Wesleyan to score seven straight points themselves, including three powerful kills from Drennan.

The Brewers stayed in the game with an ace from Mottern and kills from Ly and Newton, but Wesleyan edged out the game 26-24 with a Drennan block. Wesleyan then took the second game easily, jumping out to a 10-3 lead with three kills each from Drennan and junior setter Ellie Healy (Manhattan Beach, CA/Chadwick School), who finished the match with seven kills, eleven digs, and 36 assists.

Despite the notable serving efforts of Potts, Vassar never could get within five points of Wesleyan the rest of the game.

The Brewers will return to action this Wednesday, September 17, for a highly anticipated matchup with New York University in NYC.