BEVERLY, Mass. (10/12/23) - In just their third CCC matchup of the season, the Nichols College women's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 (17-25, 16-25, 25-23, 21-25) decision to Endicott College at the MacDonald Gym on Thursday night.

The Bison continue to search for their first conference win and fall to 11-6 (0-3 CCC) overall with the loss. The Gulls improve to 9-8 (4-0 CCC) overall, having now won three straight contests.

Junior Luna Colozzo accounted for a team-best 12 kills on the night, along with five digs and a pair of block assists. Sophomore Kya Burdier also chipped in with a team-leading 18 assists, while Liz Diorio chalked up 17 digs on the defensive side of the ball.  

The Bison jumped out to a 9-6 lead early in the opening set before Endicott answered with three unanswered points to bring the score to 9-all. To follow, the host Gulls slowly began to distance themselves on the scoreboard from the Bison, utilizing a balanced attack to claim a 20-15 edge. Despite securing two more points prior to the end of the set, Nichols would surrender the first set to the Gulls.

Looking for a response, the early scoring trend returned for the Bison to kick off the second frame with a 6-3 lead. However, Endicott also experienced some déjà vu and found themselves back on top with a 4-0 run, which played a part in scoring seven on the next 10 points for a new 10-9 Gulls lead. For the remainder of the set, Nichols would only manage to string two consecutive points together, both off Endicott errors, en route to a 25-16 loss in the second.

From a 4-4 tie early in the third, Nichols received a boost from five more Endicott miscues, resulting in a 6-1 run for a 10-5 lead. Despite the Gulls remaining right on the Bison's heels, the Nichols offense began clicking with steady point production, rallying behind six kills in the frame by Colozzo for half of her night total. As a result, Nichols claimed the victory in the third set to stave off the sweep, winning by a close 25-23 score.

Energized by their third set win, the momentum clearly carried over into the early stages of the fourth for Nichols, who cruised out of the gate to a 7-2 lead. The Bison would maintain the lead all the way up through the midway point of the set, until the Gulls worked up a 9-1 run to immediately take back the lead late. The sudden turnaround ultimately proved costly for the Bison, ending up in a fourth set loss to finish out the evening.

Women's Volleyball will wrap up its road stretch on Saturday, October 14^th against Wentworth Institute of Technology (14-5, 2-0 CCC), with first serve scheduled for 11:00 AM at Tansey Gymnasium in Boston, Massachusetts.