BOSTON, Mass. – October 4, 2022 – The Dean College women's volleyball team was swept by Simmons, 3-0, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) match Tuesday night. Simmons won by scores of 25-13, 25-16 and 25-16.

Dean (3-16, 1-6 GNAC) steps out of conference for a Saturday tri-match at UMass Dartmouth with Keene State. Simmons (10-5, 4-0 GNAC) plays at MIT tomorrow night at 6 p.m.

Sophomore Janai Price (Providence, R.I.) paced the Bulldogs with five kills on .286 hitting. Sophomore Lena Muraski (Manchester, Conn.) picked up a match and career-high 15 digs, while first-year Skylar Raskevitz (Easthampton, Mass.) added 12 digs. Junior setter Bella Driscoll (Plymouth, Mass.) tallied 10 assists and four digs. Senior Sari Albury (Nassau, Bahamas) registered two kills, two aces and two blocks.

Senior Sydney Iannantuono (East Lyme, Conn.) led all players with 15 kills for the Sharks. She added a team best nine digs to go with three aces. Junior Claire Conners (Albany, Calif.) hit .316 for seven kills. Junior Jayla Parnell (Oregon City, Ore.) hit .357, had seven kills and seven digs. Junior Kat Simeonidis (Lake Mary, Fla.) ran the Simmons offense that hit .358 as a team. She finished with 28 assists, eight digs, four kills and three aces.  

After a back and forth beginning to the match, Simmons used an 8-1 run to take a comfortable 15-6 lead. The teams traded the next six points, but Iannantuono had three kills in a 6-point run for the Sharks to put the set out of reach. The Bulldogs scored four late points to make the final 25-13. Simmons hit .436 in the set with Iannantuono compiling six kills. Price had three kills for Dean.

The Sharks carried the momentum into the second to take a 12-3 lead. Dean battled back to pull within 15-11 after a kill by first-year Caitlin Cooper (Amherst, N.H.). The home team responded with a quick five points to put the set out of reach. Simmons continued its efficient attack by hitting .481 in the second frame. Iannantuono collected eight of the team's 16 kills in the set.

The Bulldogs stayed close in the early stages of the third set with a Lena Muraski kill to cut the Simmons advantage to 8-6. A 7-2 spurt by the Sharks created a 15-8 cushion. Trailing 21-10, the Bulldogs did not go quietly as the team scored five of the next six points to pull within 22-15. Simmons answered with three of the next four points to secure the 25-16 win.