POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – The Vassar College women's volleyball team dropped its first match of the day to Stevens Institute of Technology 3-0 Friday, but rebounded in the nightcap in front of a raucous crowd to knock off Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 3-1 to earn a split. The Brewers entertained four other teams Friday evening in the opening day of the tournament, hosting five total games.

                  In the opening contest of the afternoon, the Brewers (3-1) fell in straight sets but the match was much closer than the final tally. In the first set, both teams took turns with the lead, but a 6-1 run by Stevens after the game was tied at nine pushed the Ducks (6-0) out to a 15-10 advantage. Vassar rallied to pull even at 20, and led by two at 23-21 after a kill from freshman Gabby Miller (Scottsdale, AZ/Horizon), but Stevens rattled off three straight and ended up taking game one 28-26.

                  The same was true in the second set, as both teams battled to a tie score at 15. A 6-2 spurt by the Ducks catapulted them to a 25-20 win in the second set. The final contest would again need extra points, this time with Stevens earning a 26-24 win. In that set, the Ducks erased a late 23-20 lead by Vassar to chalk up the win.

                  Junior Taylor Mosley (Dallas, TX/Parish Episcopal School) led Vassar with a double-double of 11 kills and 14 digs, adding three total blocks. Fellow junior Marie Pitre (San Dimas, CA/St. Lucys Priory) hit at a .320 clip, registering 10 kills on 25 swings, while Miller ended with seven kills and six digs.

                  Senior setter Rose Carman (Santa Cruz, CA/Santa Cruz) finished with 33 assists in the match, while sophomore libero Chloe Hallum (Olympia, WA/Olympia) started what would be a huge day for her with 22 digs. Vassar outhit its opponents .218-183, but serve receive hurt the Brewers as the Ducks held a .952-.903 edge in that category.

                  In the second contest of the night, VC showed a lot of heart in erasing an early set deficit to win three straight games with scores of 19-25, 26-24, 25-23, and 25-16. In the first set, MIT (5-1) took advantage of eight attack errors in earning an early contest lead. The Brewers would knot the game in the second, as senior Megan Andersen (Santa Monica, CA/The Archer School) sealed the game with an ace.

                  In the crucial third set, Vassar sprinted out to a 12-6 lead, but following a timeout MIT responded with an 8-1 run to take a 14-13 advantage. The game was nip and tuck the rest of the way, but again Andersen was clutch at the end of the set, serving three straight points to lift Vassar to a 25-23 set triumph.

                  The deciding set was all Brewers, as they hit at a .269 clip in the period while forcing the Engineers into .000 attacking, earning the 25-16 win. The offense for VC was very balanced in the match, as five players had seven or more kills. Senior Jessie Ditmore (Santa Barbara, CA/Laguna Blanca) had a team-high 10 finishes, earning four assisted blocks, while Miller had nine kills and nine digs.

                  Junior Clara Cardillo (San Francisco, CA/Bay School of San Francisco) had nine kills on 16 attempts, Pitre added nine kills and two assisted rejections, and Mosley posted seven kills, nine digs and two aces. Carman upped her personal high for assists with 35, and Hallum added another big match with 28 digs and two aces.

                  The serve for Vassar was a huge weapon against MIT, as the Engineers received serve at just a .866 percentage, with VC posting 12 aces. In other action Friday evening in the Vassar Invitational, Stevens knocked off NYU 3-1, MIT defeated SUNY Cortland 3-2, and NYU earned a 3-1 win over SUNY Cortland.

                  Action continues tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. for the five teams involved, with five more games on the docket. Vassar will entertain Cortland in its first game of the day tomorrow, finishing the tournament at 3 p.m. against NYU.