Southern Maine Falls in Five Sets to Unbeaten St. Joseph's 3-2

Junior Megan Nilson was one of three USM players to post a double-double in the Huskies' tough, five-set loss to undefeated St. Joseph's College Thursday night at Hill Gym.

GORHAM, Maine -- The unbeaten St. Joseph's College Monks came from behind to take a 3-2 victory over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a non-conference volleyball match Thursday evening at the Warren Hill Gymnasium.

            The win was the seventh straight for the Monks who are now 7-0 on the season.  The Huskies dropped their second straight to slide below .500 at 4-5.  The two teams will meet again at St. Joseph's on October 8.

            Senior middle hitter Felicia Wachowiak (Milton, N.H./Nute) led the Monks attack pounding down 21 kills.  Junior Victoria Huntley (Ellsworth, Maine) added 14 kills, junior Shadai Gosselin (Somersworth, N.H.) contributed nine kills, and senior Alli Hollander (Thermal, Calif.) and sophomore Jordynne Copp (Cumberland, Maine/Greely) had eight kills apiece as the Monks had a total of 63 kills in the match.

            Junior setter Mariah Hebert (Biddeford, Maine) passed out 48 assists, and rookie libero
Jennelle Thompson (Farmington, N.H.) dug up a match-high 24 balls.  Huntley also had 19 digs to earn a double-double, and Gosselin had 13 digs.

            For the Huskies, sophomore outside hitter Jess Williamson (Goffstown, N.H.), junior setter Megan Nilson (Granby, Conn.) and rookie Nicole Schmitz (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham) each had a double-double.  Williamson had 26 kills and 20 digs for her fourth double-double in the last five matches.  Nilson had 34 assists and 14 digs for her third double-double, while Schmitz had 30 assists and 13 digs for her first career double-double.

            Southern Maine came from behind to take the first set 25-20.  St. Joseph's held off USM in the second set for a 25-22 win.  In the third set, Southern Maine again came from behind to take a 25-22 win and a 2-1 lead.

            The Monks came back in the fourth set for a 25-21 win to force the decisive fifth set.  In the final set, St. Joseph's raced out to a 9-1 lead, then held off a USM comeback bid that had closed the deficit to 12-7.  St Joe's won the next three points to take the match.

            Southern Maine opens Little East Conference play on Saturday (12:00 p.m.) traveling the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.  St. Joseph's looks to extend its winning streak tomorrow evening (6:00 p.m.) in the opening day of play of the SJC Autumn Invitational, facing the University of Maine Presque Isle and Husson University.