FRANKLIN, Mass. – September 1, 2022 –The Dean College and Fitchburg State women's volleyball teams battled for close to two and a half hours to begin the 2022 season. Fitchburg State was able to escape with a 3-2 hotly contested match by scores of 27-25, 18-25, 25-23, 22-25 and 17-15.
Dean (0-1) will host a tri-match on Saturday against Framingham State and Lesley beginning at 11 a.m. Fitchburg State (1-0) travels to Fisher on Wednesday.
The Falcons were paced by a 15-kill effort from freshman Stephanie Sardella (Billerica, Mass.). She added 10 digs and five aces. Sophomore Shianna Harewood (Sterling, Mass.) added eight kills and a couple of block assists.
Dean received 13 kills from sophomore
Emily Larouche (Agawam, Mass.) and senior
Sari Albury (Nassau, Bahamas). Larouche added seven digs, three aces and a couple of blocks in four sets played. Sophomore
Jordan Herivaux (Pawtucket, R.I.) picked up a match best 14 digs in just three sets. In her collegiate debut, first-year
Caitlin Cooper (Amherst, N.H.) hit an impressive .462 to finish with seven kills.
The Bulldogs raced out a 17-11 lead in the first set, but Fitchburg State battled back, taking advantage of some Dean service errors to win 27-25. Larouche had seven kills in the set for Dean.
In the second, Dean went on top 17-7 and cruised to the 25-18 victory. Cooper had four kills in six attempts to pace the Bulldogs attack. Harewood was responsible for three of the Falcons' eight kills in the frame.
The third set featured 14 ties and 10 lead changes all the way until the final stretch. The visitors were trailing 22-21 when they rattled off three in a row to take a 24-22 lead. After a Falcons service error pulled Dean to within one, Sardella connected for a kill to end the set 25-23. She had five kills in the frame, while Albury posted four for Dean.
The fourth set was much of the same as these two evenly matched teams tried to gain an advantage. This time Dean trailed 21-20 before ending the set with a 5-1 run to even the contest at two sets apiece. Albury had another four kills for Dean.
Fitchburg State took an early 5-1 lead in the deciding set, but Dean showed resilience and would later lead 12-10. The Falcons retook the lead, 13-12, after another Sardella kill. The teams then traded points to make the score 15-15, before the Falcons clinched the match with a Sardella kill and a Dean hitting error.
