MCCARTHY AND ENDARA LIFT REGIS COLLEGE TO VICTORY

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior outside hitter Stacy Croteau (Agawam, Mass.) downed a team-high nine kills but Regis College received a combined for 36 kills from Meghan McCarty (Billerica, Mass.) and Angelica Endara (Boca Raton, Fla.) to help lift the Pride to a hard-fought 3-1 (25-17, 25-10, 23-25, 27-25) victory over the Blazers in Wednesday evening’s non-conference women’s volleyball match at Picknelly Arena.
 
With the loss, Elms falls to 3-12 on the season, while Regis improves to 5-13 overall.
 
Trailing 2-0 in the match and 21-16 in the third set, Elms went on a furious rally, scoring six of the next seven points to knot the frame at 22-22 highlighted by a pair of kills from junior outside hitter Jenn Rego (Fall River, Mass.) and one each from senior middle hitter Laura Kulig (Holyoke, Mass.) and Croteau. Regis’ Vanessa Noessi (Methuen, Mass.) floored a kill to briefly end the rally and give the Pride a 23-22 lead, but three consecutive attacking errors allowed the Blazers to claim a 25-23 victory in the set and force a fourth stanza.
 
The fourth set saw the teams play to three ties and four lead changes to set the score at 21-21 with neither squad gaining more than a five-point advantage during the stretch. A pair of kills from Rego helped the Blazers to a 24-22 lead before a service error followed by a service ace by the Pride’s Sara Gold (North Hollywood, Calif.) evened the set at 24-24. With the score tied 25-25, Caitlyn Walsh (Taunton, Mass.) downed a service ace and McCarty added her match-best 19th kill of the contest to seal the victory for Regis.
 
Endara finished with 17 kills and 16 digs in the match while Walsh dug a match-high 20 balls in the winning effort. Megan Pratt (Rockland, Mass.) added 14 digs and Randi Garrity (Reading, Mass.) dished out a match-high 35 assists.