VOLLEYBALL
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Volleyball: Emerson Downs Norwich, 3-0, In GNAC Tournament Quarterfinals
BOSTON - Third-seeded Emerson College used a potent hitting attack to roll over sixth-seeded Norwich University, 3-0, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Volleyball Tournament first round action. The Lions ran off scores of 25-8, 25-9, and 25-16.
Emerson (21-10) never trailed in the first set as Janna Tonahill broke a 2-2 tie with a kill and a block. The Cadets (16-8) were able to stay within reach at 7-4 until Tonahill served four straight points for an 11-4 advantage. The Emerson lead extended to 16-6, causing a Norwich timeout. Coming out of the break, Lauren Zaniboni served eight straight points to cause another Cadet stoppage. A kill error against Emerson made the score 23-8, but kills by Maddie Breeland and Tonahill ended the set.
The second set was similar as Emerson roared out to a 10-0 lead on serves by Sara Rutan. Included in the run were four aces by Rutan. A service error gave Norwich its first point, but Jalissa Rawding served five consecutive points before committing a service error to make the score 15-2. The team traded points the rest of the match giving the Lions a 25-9 victory.
Norwich led the third set 3-2 until a Kristina Ten kill tied the match. Tonahill then served seven straight points highlighted by two aces, and a block and two kills from Zaniboni. The Cadets pulled to within five points before two kills by Zaniboni sandwiched around a blocking error gave the Lions a 12-6 lead. Zaniboni then served three straight points including an ace and Emerson stretched the lead to 16-7. A service error and two attack errors gave the Cadets three straight points, but a kill by Tonahill followed by five service points by Rawding gave Emerson a 22-10 lead Norwich scored its last five points on four attack errors and a service error by the Lions, but a Cadet service error closed out the match.
Emerson dominated the offensive statistics in the match with unofficial statistics of 30 kills to just nine for the Cadets. Of Norwich's 33 total points in the match 22 were scored off Emerson attack, service or blocking errors.
Norwich was led by junior Lisset Magdaleno, who posted five kills and five digs. Sophomore Alicia Chamness added three kills and eight digs, while fellow sophomore Molly Rice recorded 10 assists and five digs. Freshman April Byllaardt chipped in three kills.
