Women’s Volleyball: Colby-Sawyer Wins Fifth Straight NAC Title

NEW LONDON, N.H. – The Colby-Sawyer College women’s volleyball team won its fifth consecutive North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Championship after defeating Maine Maritime 3-0 on Saturday morning.

The tournament’s top seed, Colby-Sawyer (12-24), won by scores of 25-22, 25-22 and 25-9. The second seed Mariners drop to 18-13. The Chargers have won each of their five NAC titles over the Mariners. The Chargers have won eight of their last 10 matches heading into the NCAA Tournament.

The Chargers will make a trip to the NCAA for the eighth time in school history and will find out Monday at 11:00 a.m. where they will travel and who they will play. The Division III Women’s Volleyball selection show can be seen at NCAA.com or selecting this link http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2015/11/09 

Maine Maritime began the match with an 8-1 run forcing a Colby-Sawyer timeout. As the first set

went on, the Chargers slowly crept their way back into the mix and eventually tied the score at 18-18 after a kill from senior Kelsey McCulley (Southampton, N.Y.). The Mariners scored the next two points on a kill from freshman Melissa Spaulding (Fairbanks, Alaska) and an ace from freshman Tess Clark (Spring, Texas). Colby-Sawyer tied the match once again at 22-22 after a kill from senior Kelsey Sullivan (Laconia, N.H.) and scored the next three points to take the first set in dramatic fashion, 25-22.

The Mariners again came out with a hot start to set two and took a 4-1 lead capped by a Tess Clark kill. The score was tied 7-7 when Colby-Sawyer used a 5-2 spurt to take a 12-9 lead. The Mariners pulled within two at 14-12 after another Tess Clark kill and again at 24-22 with Clark’s ninth kill of the set, but the Chargers put the set away on a Kelsey McCulley kill, 25-22.

With their sights set on the NAC trophy, the Chargers raced out to a 5-1 advantage in the third set and never looked back. Colby-Sawyer hit .462 in the set and won the set (25-9) and the match on a kill from freshman Courtney Murray (Quincy, Mass.).

Gabrielle Rodriguez earned MVP honors after collected a match best 15 kills on .289 hitting. She added three blocks and three aces. Kelsey Sullivan had eight kills and eight digs, while Kelsey McCulley hit an impressive .467 for nine kills. Both Kelsey’s were named to the All-Tournament team. Senior Laura Smolinski (Hebron, Conn.) had a double-double of 19 assists and 12 digs.

Maine Maritime was led by NAC Rookie of the Year Tess Clark. She had 14 kills and 12 digs and earned a spot on the All-Tournament team. Melissa Spaulding also was named All-Tournament after collecting a match-high 28 assists. NAC Player of the Year senior Gillian O’Neal (Burbank, Calif.) finished with six kills and nine digs.

All-Tournament Team
Lyndon – Laura Drake
Castleton – Brittany Brayman 
Maine Maritime – Tess Clark
Maine Maritime – Melissa Spaulding
Colby-Sawyer – Kelsey McCulley
Colby-Sawyer – Kelsey Sullivan 
Colby-Sawyer – Gabrielle Rodriguez - MVP