WORCESTER, Mass. – The Clark University volleyball team (8-2, 1-0 NEWMAC) opened NEWMAC play with a home match against WPI (3-6, 0-1 NEWMAC) and came away with an exciting 3-0 victory over the Engineers on Tuesday night in front of a jam-packed crowd inside the Kneller Gymnasium.
Clark took the first set 25-16, won the second set 25-18, and topped WPI 31-29 in the deciding set.
How it Happened
- With the match tied at 5-5 early in the first set, Clark went on a 6-0 run sparked by blocks from junior Camille Sterling, senior Camille Flurry, and senior Victoria Pastor to go up 11-5.
- The Engineers got back within three at 12-9, but Clark rattled off three straight points with a block and kill from senior Sofia Scherrer del Llano to take a 15-9 edge.
- After another 5-0 run led by a kill from first-year Julia Dopazo and Williams as well as a Pastor service ace, the Cougars ended the set with blocks from Sterling and Flurry as Clark took the first set 25-16.
- The scarlet and white rattled off four straight points early in the second set with kills coming from Pastor, graduate student Cameron Gill, Williams, and Flurry as Clark held a 6-2 edge.
- WPI stormed back to tie the set at 8-8, but Clark went on a 6-0 run sparked by a sophomore Yumeng Liu service ace and a pair of Pastor kills to re-establish a 14-8 lead.
- Williams led the way with a pair of kills and a Sterling kill off a feed from junior Yvanna Torres made it a 19-12 match and two more kills from Scherrer del Llano down the stretch in the set gave Clark a 25-18 win in set two.
- WPI took an early 7-5 lead in the third set before Sterling recorded a pair of kills to help alternate points in a 9-7 match that was led by the Engineers.
- With WPI up 13-9, Clark rattled off four straight points, including a Pastor kill from Dopazo to tie the set at 13-13.
- The teams then traded points as Flurry added two kills, but the Engineers would score four of the next five points to take a 20-17 edge before Clark rallied back with a 4-0 run, which included a kill from Flurry to go up 21-20.
- WPI got it to set point at 24-22, but Clark rallied with kills from Williams and Scherrer del Llano to tie the match at 24-24 before the Engineers took a 25-24 lead on a service error.
- Gill registered a kill and a Williams block gave Clark a 26-25 edge, but WPI responded with two points before the Cougars added two points of their own to go up 28-27.
- After the Engineers responded with two more points to go up 29-28, Clark rallied to score the next three points, which was capped off by a kill from Flurry off a feed from Liu as Clark took the set 31-29.
Inside the Box Score
- Clark recorded 42 kills, two service aces, seven blocks, 40 assists, and 62 digs.
- Williams registered 10 kills and four blocks.
- Flurry added nine kills and two blocks.
- Dopazo recorded 22 assists and Torres added 15 helpers.
- Pastor led the team with 15 digs and Liu added 13.
What's Next
The Cougars will return to the court on Saturday with a tri-match at Smith beginning at 1:00 p.m. and then will take on Bowdoin at 3:00 p.m.