Vikings Fall to Beacons in Three Sets

BOSTON, Mass. – Salem State Volleyball found themselves back on the road this afternoon as they traveled down to Boston to take on the Beacons of The University of Massachusetts – Boston for a nonconference matchup.  after three sets, The Beacons defeated the Vikings to drop them to 5-6 on the season.

Offensively, Presley Shairs (Salem, Mass.) and Abigail O'Connor (Gilford, N.H.) led the Vikings with six and four kills, respectively, while Celia Carbone (Lynnfield, Mass.) and Eva Haralabatos (Melrose, Mass.) each had five assits. Defensively, Kailey Roche (Billerica, Mass.) made 13 digs in the effort.

SET 1

UMass Boston found themselves with a sizeable 12-5 advantage early in the first set before a pair of service errors and attack errors on their part brought the Vikings back in striking distance (13-9). The Vikings were able to slowly chip away and find the set at a 19-point stalemate after a kill by Shairs. Unfortunately, that would be as close as Salem would get as the Beacons would outscore the Vikings 6-1 to take the first set, 25-20.

SET 2

After back-to-back service aces from Dylan Wertzberger (Dallas, Texas), the Beacons jumped out to the early 3-0 lead before an O'Connor kill stopped the bleeding. A little while later the Vikings would find themselves down by double-digits after a service ace from the Beacons made it a 20-10 game and forced the Vikings to take a timeout. Coming out of the break, Haralabatos accounted for three of five unanswered points to bring Salem back into the game and within five. After an attack error by UMass Boston, the Vikings would come within four points (23-19) of the Beacons, but that would be as close as they would get as UMass would take the second set, 25-20, to give them the 2-0 advantage on the afternoon.

SET 3

The Beacons dominated the third set, jumping out to a 7-0 lead before an attack error gave the Vikings their first point of the set. Unfortunately, the Vikings would only go onto notch five more points as the Beacons dominated the third set to take the 25-6 win and secure the non-conference victory over the Vikings.