FRANKLIN, Mass. – September 26, 2023 – After dropping the first two sets, the Dean College women's volleyball team came back to win the next three and earn a 3-2 victory over Curry on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs won 26-28, 22-25, 25-14, 25-16 and 15-7.
Dean (4-10) travels to Mass. Maritime on Thursday night for a 7 p.m. first serve. Curry (3-8) returns home on Thursday to host Rhode Island College at 6 p.m.
First-year
Deanna Dice (Grants Pass, Ore.) led the Bulldogs with a match best and a career-high 16 kills on .364 hitting. Senior
Sari Albury (Nassau, Bahamas) finished with a season best 15 kills on .583 hitting. First-year
Chloe DeMaio (Medfield, Mass.) registered a career-high six kills on nine attempts to go with three blocks. Senior
Bella Driscoll (Plymouth, Mass.) tallied a career-high 45 assists to go with 18 digs. Sophomore
Skylar Raskevitz (Easthampton, Mass.) posted a match best 21 digs.
Curry was led by senior Lauren Guzman (Cranston, R.I.). She finished with 10 kills and 13 digs. Senior Leah Oscar-Phoenix (Westwood, Mass.) hit .412 for seven kills and four blocks. Sophomore Abby Sousa (Seekonk, Mass.) recorded 24 assists and 15 digs.
The first set featured 10 ties and five lead changes. With the Bulldogs leading 19-16, Curry went on a 5-0 run to take a 2-point advantage. Dean answered with kills from junior
Janai Price (Providence, R.I.) and Dice to tie the score. The Colonels then had set point at 24-22, but Dean responded again to tie the score. The Bulldogs were able to stave off two more set points before a Guzman ace sealed the 28-26 win for Curry. Dice had five kills to lead Dean, while Guzman had four for Curry.
Dean raced out to an 11-2 lead early in the second set but saw Curry chip away and eventually take a 21-20 lead after a Guzman kill. The Colonels finished the set on a 4-2 spurt, again ending the action on a Guzman ace. Dice had another six kills for Dean.
The first several points went back and forth before the Dean attack played a big role in the outcome of the third set. The Bulldogs hit .500 and posted 13 kills with just one error to cruise to a 25-14 win. DeMaio, Albury and Price each had three kills for the Bulldogs.
Dean carried the momentum into the fourth and led from the first serve when Albury set the tone with her 11th kill of the night. In addition to strong hitting once again for Dean, the defense at the net provided a spark as DeMaio and Price had two solo blocks apiece.
In the final frame, Dean took a comfortable 7-3 lead after DeMaio registered her third block of the match. The Colonels made things interesting with a 6-2 run to pull within a pair, but kills by Albury, Dice and Price gave the Bulldogs match point at 14-7. Dice and Albury combined for a block on the final play of the night to secure the 3-2 come-from-behind victory.
