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Date: November 11, 2005
Contact: Bill Sodoma

 

Colby beats MIT to reach NCAA regional final

WATERVILLE, Maine --- Colby College and Tufts University will battle once again in a volleyball title game at Wadsworth Gymnasium.

Colby, the top seed, took a 3-1 victory (30-22, 31-29, 24-30, 30-26) over fourth-seeded MIT in a NCAA Division III New England Regional semifinal match Friday night. Tufts took a 3-0 victory over sixth-seeded Colby-Sawyer College in the other semifinal match.

Colby (36-3) and Tufts (29-6) will meet in the regional title game Saturday at 7 p.m. The Mules took a 3-0 win over the Jumbos in the New England Small College Athletic Conference title game last Sunday at Colby and took a 3-0 home win over Tufts in the regular season. The winner Saturday will head to Salem, Virginia to meet the Mid-Atlantic Regional winner in a NCAA quarterfinal match on November 17.

Senior outside hitter Cait Cleaver (Kennett Square, Pa.) had 22 kills, many of them in key situations, 19 digs and three blocks to lead Colby. Megan Devlin (Branford, Conn.) added 11 kills and 29 digs, while Kaitlin Adams (Athol, Mass.) had seven kills, six blocks and nine digs. First-year setter Jenny Lawrence (Lafayette, Calif.) had 38 assists and 18 digs.

MIT (29-9) received 17 kills from Frances Rogoz (Lincolnwood, Ill.). Setter Austin Zimmerman (Scottsdale, Ariz.) had 10 kills and 48 assists, Alex Huston-Carico (Davis, Calif.) added 10 kills and Arlis Reynolds (Costa Mesa, Calif.) had 26 digs.

Colby battled back in the second and fourth games for victories. MIT led 29-27 in the second game only to see the Mules score the last four points, two on kills by Devlin, to pull out the win. The Engineers also led 23-19 in the fourth game only to see Colby rally in front of a boisterous crowd.

The second-seeded Jumbos took a 3-0 victory (30-18, 30-21, 30-17) over Colby-Sawyer.

April Gerry (Holmes, N.Y.) had 15 kills to lead Tufts. The Jumbos also received 11 kills from Caitlin Dealy (Santa Barbara, Calif.), 42 assists by Kaitlin O'Reilly (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), and six kills apiece from Katie Wysham (Spokane, Wash.) and Dana Fleisher (Aspen, Colo.).

Colby-Sawyer (30-9) was in all three games early in the match. The first game was tied 10-10 before Tufts ran off seven straight points to take control. In the third game, the Chargers led 6-4 only to watch Tufts go on a 13-4 run to take a 17-10 lead.

Jessica Niebuhr had 23 assists and 15 digs to lead Colby-Sawyer. Anne Coulter (Hudson, N.H.) added nine kills, Kathy Couture (Greenfield, Mass.) had seven kills and Amy Tarte (Meredith, N.H.) had 14 digs. Couture finished her career with a school-best 1,507 kills, while Coulter is the career leader in blocks (389) and ends her career with 1,175 kills.

NCAA Division III Tournament

New England Regional at Colby College

Thursday's matches

No. 4 MIT 3, No. 5 Bridgewater State 0 (30-19, 30-21, 30-27)

No. 6 Colby-Sawyer 3, No. 3 Smith 1 (30-21, 28-30, 30-26, 30-27)

No. 2 Tufts 3, No. 7 Emmanuel 0 (30-28, 30-28, 30-21)

No. 1 Colby 3, No. 8 Mount Ida 0 (30-15, 30-17, 30-9)

Friday's regional semifinal matches

No. 2 Tufts 3, No. 6 Colby-Sawyer 0 (30-18, 30-21, 30-17)

No. 1 Colby 3, No. 4 MIT 1 (30-22, 31-29, 24-30, 30-26)

Saturday's regional final

No. 2 Tufts (29-6) vs. No. 1 Colby (36-3), 7 p.m.