THE BASICS
Score: Dean College 3, Massachusetts Maritime 0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-23)
Records: Dean College (5-5), Massachusetts Maritime (1-11)
Location: Franklin, Mass. (Pieri Gymnasium)
Date: Friday, September 22, 2017
Time: 7:00 p.m.

THE LEAD:
Host Dean kicked of the College's homecoming weekend in style with a 3-0 win over Massachusetts Maritime Academy in non-league women's volleyball action on Friday evening.

The win for the Bulldogs snaps a brief two-match slide, sends their record back to .500 and avenges last season's 3-0 loss to MMA in Buzzards Bay.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
In the opening set, the Bulldogs breezed to a seven-point victory as they pulled away after being tied at 11-11 midway through the frame. The key sequence in the set came during a stretch of poor hitting by the Buccaneers that allowed Dean to push ahead and when Sami Mulcahy (Taunton, Mass.) hammered down a kill for the Bulldogs, the score was 22-16.

Aminah Tsonga (Plainville, Conn.) started the second set off with back-to-back service aces and the hosts never looked back, sprinting to a 25-17 triumph. The lead grew to as many as ten on a couple of occasions – the last time coming on a Paola Gonzalez (Southbridge, Mass.) kill that made the score 20-10.

Massachusetts Maritime did shrink the Dean advantage down to 23-17 following a service ace from Marie Harrison (Weymouth, Mass.) but that would be as close as they would get as two unforced Buccaneer errors ended the set.

The third set was by far the most competitive and started off as a back-and-forth duel with each team taking the lead early on. After the Buccaneers went back in front at 12-11 on a Maddie Coughlin (Monroe, Conn.) service ace, Dean ran off three straight points – highlighted by back-to-back service aces from Melanie Rios-Nevarez (Alta Vega, Puerto Rico).

The lead changed hands two more times and was knotted at 23-23 after a Jennifer Roy (Attleboro, Mass.) kill, but the Bulldogs registered the final two points to take the set and the match.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
Neither team hit particularly well, with Dean posting a .081 percentage while the Buccaneers had as many kills (23) as they did errors (23).

Roy finished with a match-best 11 kills for the visitors, who also got a match-high 20 assists from Michelle Sheehan (Attleboro, Mass.).

The Bulldogs were paced by Kaitlyn Anderson (Clinton, Conn.) and her nine kills and eight digs, while Rios-Nevarez racked up 19 assists, six digs, four service aces and a pair of kills.

UP NEXT:
The Bulldogs are back in action on Tuesday when they visit Pine Manor for a non-league matchup at 7:00 p.m. For the Buccaneers, meanwhile, they jump right back into action on Saturday when they host both Worcester State and Pine Manor in a tri-match beginning at 1:00 p.m.