Vikings Stun Top-Seeded Lancers

SALEM, Mass. -- Salem State volleyball welcomed MASCAC foe, Worcester State University, to Twohig Gymnasium for a conference battle. A gritty and exciting back-and-forth match ended in the Vikings' stunning the top-seeded Lancers to claim the victory 26-24, 13-25, 26-24, 25-23) and improve their record to 6-12 and 2-4 in MASCAC play.

Salem played a defensive- team game with six different Vikings tallying double-digit digs. Kailey Roche (Billerica, Mass.) spearheaded this defensive effort with a game-high 23 digs to go with five service aces. Additionally, Eva Haralabatos (Melrose, Mass.) was everywhere tonight, finding her teammates for 17 assists to go along with 13 digs and six kills.

Offensively, the Lancers were paced by Maeve Cadogan (Wilmington, Mass.) and Erin Gaffney (Worcester, Mass.) who had 11 and 10 kills respectively. Teammate, Angela Colonis (Waterford, Conn.) had an impressive 26 assists to go along with 22 digs in the effort.

After falling behind 8-3 early on, the Vikings began to gain some momentum when three hard hit attacks in a row caused the Lancers to make consecutive errors and even the score at 10. From there, the rest of the set would be a back-and-forth battle seeing eight lead changes before the Vikings stole the exciting first stanza, 26-24.  

Spearheaded by their hitters, the Lancers came out firing after dropping the first set, scoring eight unanswered points to take a commanding 8-0 lead. The Vikings were able to surmount two separate runs themselves, but the early hole proved to be too much as the Lancers took the second set by a tally of 25-13.

The Vikings secured their first lead since the opening set after three service aces in a row from Kayla Sullivan (Millis, Mass.) brought the score to 4-3 in her squad's favor to start the third. Thanks to gritty play by the Vikings, they were able to keep the Lancers at bay until four unanswered points put Worcester on top 16-14 and forced a Viking timeout. The timeout was able to recharge the Vikings as they tied the game at 19 after two kills from Presley Shairs (Salem, Mass.) and took the lead when Roche delivered an ace. The Lancers refused to go down as they reclaimed a one-point lead at 23 but that would be the last lead they would see as the Vikings captured the 26-24 win, putting them one set away from victory.

In similar fashion to the first and third sets, the fourth stanza proved to be a back-and-forth battle. The Vikings were finally able to give themselves a four-point cushion when an ace from Harabalatos put the score at 12-8. After back-to-back Salem errors, the Lancers regained a slight advantage at 13-12. The Vikings went on to take their biggest lead of the set after back-to-back kills put the crowd on their feet and Salem up 23-17. The Lancers fought back but the Vikings' energy and effort was unstoppable as they claimed the set 25-23, giving them the victory over No. 1 seeded Worcester.