POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (September 6, 2017) – In the opening evening of home play for the Vassar College women's volleyball team in 2017, junior Devan Gallagher chalked up a team-best 16 kills to lead VC to a 3-0 win over Williams College in non-conference action from Kenyon Hall Wednesday. The Brewers earned the win with scores of 25-19, 25-20 and 27-25.
 
Vassar (3-2) had to play some catch-up during the opening stanza of the match, trailing 10-7 after a kill from freshman Ariana Altieri of the Ephs (0-1). The Brewers would roar back, scoring the next nine points, capped by a Gallagher finish to make the score 16-10. Williams cut the VC edge to four at 21-17, but three consecutive points for the Brewers gave the hosts the early 1-0 lead.
 
After the break, Vassar came out firing in the second set, taking a 4-0 lead, but this time it was the Ephs who would post the rally. Wililams countered by taking a 9-8 lead on a block by Alex Newton and Erin Dunham, forcing a Vassar timeout. The match was close the rest of the way but with the set deadlocked at 19-all, VC notched four straight points to take control of the set, as Gallagher hammered home back-to-back kills to seal the second game for VC.
 
In the third set, Williams played from behind through most of the first half of the game, but the visitors registered a 7-0 run to take an 18-15 advantage. The Brewers didn't go away, evening the game at 21 on a kill from junior Lauren Ninkovich.
 
Williams would get its first set point of the evening in the third, earning two, but VC would fight both off, the second at 25-24 on a solo block by Colette Cambey to make the score 25-25. Sophomore Jane McLeod would come to the rescue for the Brewers over the last two points, hammered down two terminations to clinch the victory.
 
Gallagher continued to hit well for the Brewers, as the reigning Liberty League Player of the Week connected on a .302 hitting percentage, chalking up 10 digs as well for her fourth double-double in five games. McLeod hit .258 on her 31 attempts, while also registering six aces and nine digs. The six aces in a single match was a personal best for the sophomore.
 
Ninkovich had a solid and effective day for Vassar with four kills, two aces and six digs, while Annie MacMillan had a very strong day with 30 assists and six digs. Sophomore Jordan Schreeder led all Brewers with 11 digs as well.
 
Ally Ostrow led the Ephs with 14 terminations, and Daiana Takaskima finished with a match-best 17 digs. "We always love to get in here early against Williams," said head coach Jonathan Penn. "We catch them early which is a little bit of a help to us, but it can be a problem since they're an unknown."
 
"We have set our goals to come into our weekend strong, and I think we're in a good position with this nice win against a quality team under our belts," said Penn. "It was a really big match for us, no one on this team had beaten Williams, so it was a great start to the season," said Ninkovich.
 
The Brewers will now host the 2017 Vassar Invitational this weekend in the Athletics & Fitness Center. Action starts Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. against King's College, finishing Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. against Bates College.