DUDLEY, Mass. (10/26/23) – Despite attempting to spark a comeback, the Nichols College women's volleyball team came up on the short end of a 3-1 (14-25, 21-25, 25-21, 16-25) decision on Thursday night against conference foe Gordon College at the Nichols College Athletic Center.
The loss drops the Bison to 14-8 (1-5 CCC) overall, while the Fighting Scots move to 13-9 (4-1 CCC) on the season.
Hayley Granato accounted for a team-best 10 kills on the night with a .304 hitting percentage, while also adding in eight digs on the defensive side. Sophomores
Kya Burdier and
Ruby St. Onge each tallied 14 helpers for the Bison, while senior libero
Liz Diorio led the defense with 15 digs.
The Bison found themselves trailing early in the first set as Gordon pieced together a 10-0 run to claim a 12-4 lead. Nichols would later receive a boost off of four Fighting Scot errors and a
Ryley Plourde kill to pull themselves back to within four points at 18-15, but then see the rest of the set slip away as Gordon claimed the next seven points for the win.
In a back and forth second set, the Scots slowly pulled ahead from a 5-5 tie and did not surrender another lead to the Bison the rest of the way through. With a 23-16 lead in hand over Nichols, the Bison again pulled back to within comeback range on a 4-0 run, the longest of the set, bringing the score to 23-20 Gordon. The Fighting Scots would again claim the win and push the Bison to set point.
It would be in the third set where the Bison transformed their game, but it would not come without challenge. After surrendering the first three points of the period, which in turn led to a 6-2 deficit, the Bison then catapulted themselves in front 11-6 with a 9-0 run, rallying behind four Granato kills and five opponent errors. The challenge followed shortly thereafter as Gordon responded with their own 6-0 run, tilting the scales back in their favor at 15-14. As the set continued on, Nichols eventually provided themselves with enough insurance to secure a win in the third, forcing extra play to decide a winner.
Nearly mimicking the opening set, the Fighting Scots used another sizable scoring run to gain the advantage in the fourth. After trailing the Bison 7-5, nine unanswered points quickly saw the Fighting Scots doubling-up the Bison by a 14-7 margin, which proved costly down the stretch for the hosts. Gordon would go on to finish the job by a 25-16 final score.
Women's volleyball will escape conference play for a spell this Saturday (10/28) as they head to Mount Holyoke College and the Mildred S. Howard Gymnasium for a pair of matchups against the host Lyons and Fitchburg State University, with first serves scheduled for 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM respectively.
