DUDLEY, Mass. (9/19/24) – The Nichols College women's volleyball snapped a three-game skid on Thursday night, sweeping Massachusetts Maritime Academy 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-18) in front of a home crowd at the Nichols Athletic Center.

The Bison triumph improves their record to 2-4 on the season, while the Buccaneers fall to 2-5 with the loss.  

Luna Colozzo racked up nine kills, a season high, with Haylee Granato adding in six alongside a team-best .357 hitting percentage. Ruby St. Onge delivered the teams first double-double performance of the season with 12 assists and 11 digs. Freshman Gabrielle McKayle, in just her second appearance this season, recorded her first collegiate kill while finishing with four total on a .273 clip. As a team, the Bison combined for 15 total service aces, with St. Onge, Colozzo and Liz Diorio each contributing four apiece.

The early stages of the first set were kept close until Nichols opened up an 11-5 lead thanks to three consecutive Buccaneer errors and an Elizabeth Mullen service ace. From there, the Bison never looked back, as their lead grew to as much as 11 points at 21-10. Despite a late push by the Buccaneers late, the Bison would not relinquish the lead en route to a 25-15 win, capped off by another Mullen service ace to close out the set.

Nichols used a quick start in set two to their advantage, firing off six straight points for an early 6-2 lead. Two rallies later, the Bison continued to pile on points by following a St. Onge kill with back-to-back Colozzo service aces, before three straight Buccaneer errors furthered their lead to 12-5. Nichols led by as many as 12 points later in the set, eventually winning by a score of 25-16 after staving off another late Massachusetts Maritime push.

The opening moments of the third set were similar to that of the second, with Nichols climbing in front 6-3 thanks to a 5-0 run featuring two Diorio aces. However, trailing 2-0 in the match, the Buccaneers would battle back to tie the set at 8-8, before eventually taking a fragile 13-12 lead with the help of three straight Bison errors. An equal amount of miscues by the Buccaneers soon saw Nichols back in front 15-13, a lead which would not be surrendered the rest of the way through. To close it out, the  Bison scored points on five of the final six rallies, completing the sweep via a 25-18 third set win.

Women's Volleyball returns to the road next week when they travel to Providence, Rhode Island for a meeting with Johnson & Wales University (4-6, 1-1 GNAC) on Tuesday, September 24^th at 7:00 PM.