QUINCY, Mass. – The Nichols women's volleyball team fell in a five-set battle at Eastern Nazarene in non-conference play on Wednesday night. With the loss, the Bison dropped their first match of 2022, falling to 7-1 on the season.
In the first set, Nichols held a lead as large as five at 15-10, before an Eliana Baran kill gave Eastern Nazarene its first lead since the opening points of the set at 19-18, forcing the Bison into a timeout. From there, the Lions held Nichols to three points en route to a 25-21 win.
Facing an 19-11 deficit in the second set, Nichols used crucial kills from
Jayleen Fegan,
Haylee Granato, and
Sydney Ball to knot the game up at 24-24. With both teams needing to win by two over 25, Nichols held three set points before finally coming away with a 30-28 thriller.
Set three also needed more than 25 points, as the two teams continued to trade leads late in the set. The Bison led 10-3 before Eastern Nazarene rattled off four-straight points, cutting the deficit to just three.
The Lions finally caught up at 21-21 when Maria Clarabuch recorded a kill with help from Piper Bolner. At set point, trailing Nichols 24-22, the hosts took set point back into their own hands after recording three consecutive points to lead 25-22.
A kill from
Luna Colozzo and two service aces from
Abigail Mayuri allowed Nichols to earn a hard-fought third set 29-27 win, putting the Bison in front, 2-1.
Nichols fell in set four, 25-12, due in part to a 9-0 scoring stretch by Eastern Nazarene which put the Lions up 15-8.
The Bison fell behind 14-6 in the fifth and final set and battled back to 14-10. The late scoring push did not prove to be enough, as the Lions hammered home the closing kill following a timeout.
Nichols saw its seven-game winning streak come to an end in the defeat, while Eastern Nazarene advanced to 6-0.
Riley Plourde hit .333 on the night, while
Liz Diorio led the way on the defensive end with 23 digs.
Nichols will head to The Empire State this weekend for four matches three matches in two days. The Bison will face off against Russell Sage on Friday night before traveling to Schenectady to face Cazenovia and Union on Saturday.
