DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols College women's volleyball team fell in three sets to the visiting University of Southern Maine on Thursday night in non-conference action at the Nichols Athletic Center in Dudley, Mass.
 
The Huskies used set scores of 25-10, 25-9, and 25-11 in the victory.
 
Sophomore J'ena Baker (Rockledge, Fla.) paced the Bison with four kills on the night while adding four digs and a block. Junior Moriah Burns (Holland, Mass.) and sophomores Tatyana Carrasquillo (Athol, Mass.), Megan Gardner (South Deerfield, Mass.) and Lexxus Andrews (Uxbridge, Mass.) also registered kills for Nichols. Freshman Haley Pichard (Hingham, Mass.) handed out eight assists, while Gardner added a service ace.
 
Defensively, sophomore Jayla Simmons (Rockledge, Fla.) led the Bison with a game-high 11 digs, including six in the third set. Pichard added five digs of her own, while freshman Samantha Callejo (Millbury, Mass.) had four digs as well.
 
Southern Maine was led by 15 kills from senior Jess Williamson (Goffstown, N.H.). Sophomore Chelsea Hranek (Fallbrook, Calif.) registered seven kills, with sophomore Faolin Harrington (Auburn, N.H.) and junior Nicole Schmitz (St. Paul, Minn.) adding five kills apiece. Schmitz also added 25 assists and four aces, while Harrington posted six aces to go with seven digs. Senior Mariah Garcia (Brighton, Colo.) led the Huskies defense with nine digs on the night.
 
All-Time Series
This was the first meeting between the two programs.
 
Next Games
Nichols (2-10, 0-1 CCC) – Saturday, Sept. 23 at Univ. of New England, 1:00 p.m.
Southern Maine (7-4, 0-1 LEC) – Saturday, Sept. 23 vs. RIC/Colby, 12:00 p.m. & 4:00 p.m.