Trailblazers Sweep Vikings in Conference Play

SALEM, Mass. – Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) traveled to Salem, Massachusetts to take on Salem State for a MASCAC matchup this afternoon. The Trailblazers swept the Vikings in three sets (25-20, 25-17, 25-15) to drop Salem State to 4-12 overall and 1-4 in conference play.

Presley Shairs (Salem, Mass.) spearhead the Vikings on offense with nine kills while Eva Haralabatos (Melrose, Mass.) set up her teammates with 13 assists. Defensively, Kailey Roche (Billerica, Mass.) and Gracie Dailey (Peabody, Mass.) tallied 17 and 14 digs, respectively, in the loss.

The Trailblazers were led by Chloie Garber (Eagle River, Ak.) and Shannon O'Brien (Unionville, Conn.) who has 12 kills and 18 assists, respectively, with O'Brien also tacking on 11 digs. Additionally, Ellie Walter- Goodspeed (Auburn, Wash.) had 19 digs for her squad in the victory.

The Vikings started the match strong holding the lead for most of the opening set after taking an early 3-0 lead before back-to-back Garber kills evened the set at three. Both squads would exchange points and the lead until the Trailblazers scored four unanswered points to give them the 14-12 edge over the Vikings. This slight advantage carried them through the rest of the set as they went on to take the first by a score of 25-20.

The Vikings held the momentum to start the second after a kill from Dailey and an ace from Roche put Salem State up four. The Trailblazers did not go away and took their first lead of the set after a kill and a Viking error brought the score to 6-5 in MCLA's favor. From there, the Trailblazers would go onto tally seven kills in the remainder of the second set to take the 25-17 win.    

After starting the set down 2-1 Shairs gave the Vikings glimpses of hope when she evened the score at 2 off a hard hit kill and did the same a couple plays later to even the set at four a piece. But MCLA did not go away and would retake the lead after going on a 5-0 run to bring the score to 9-4. They remained in the driver's seat for a majority of the set until match point when the Vikings mounted a comeback after scoring five unanswered points of their own but an error would end their run and the game as the Trailblazers took the third and final set by a score of 25-15.