Manchester, N.H. – Four players each registered at least 11 kills as the Le Moyne College volleyball team clinched its first Northeast-10 Conference regular season title with a 3-1 victory over Saint Anselm College in the regular season finale for both teams on Saturday at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
With the victory, the Dolphins finish the regular season with a program-best 12-2 record in conference action to claim its first regular season title in 21 seasons in the Northeast-10. As the top seed, the Dolphins will host a first round matchup in the Northeast-10 Conference Championships on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. against Pace University. A win over the Setters would allow the Dolphins to host the two semifinal matchups (Friday) and the title match (Saturday). The team's 22-5 record is tied for the second-most wins in the program's history and is the most since the 1996 season.
Saint Anselm, which would have been the top seed in the NE-10 Championship with a win over the Dolphins, but is now the fourth seed, recorded a 25-23 victory in the first to take a 1-0 lead in the match. After the Dolphins turned a 20-16 deficit into a 23-22 advantage, the Hawks tallied the final three points of the set. Le Moyne responded with a 25-10 win in the second set, which included a 9-2 run to start the set, to even the match at one apiece. The Dolphins took a 2-1 lead with a 25-16 victory in the third set, which included scoring the first six points. Le Moyne recorded another 25-16 win in the fourth set to close out the victory after jumping out to another 9-2 lead.
Sophomore middle blocker
Anna Hafoka (Hurst, Texas/L.D. Bell) hit a season-best .588 on her way to a match-best 12 kills. Senior outside hitters
Andrea Buchanan (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) and
Natalie Casson (Kingman, Ariz./Kingman) and sophomore right side
Jessica Miller (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South) each recorded 11 kills in the match, while Casson had eight digs and Miller posted four. With Miller going over the 300-kill plateau in the match, she and Casson became the fifth set of teammates in the program's history to each record at least 300 kills in the same season, with the last time it happened being in 2007 when Krista Prentice '11 and current head coach
Lizzie Cheek '10 accomplished the feat. Junior setter
Kendall Corcoran (Fort Salonga, N.Y./Kings Park) directed the offense with 44 assists, while adding nine digs, four kills and two service aces. Corcoran now has 1132 assists on the season, which is the fourth-most in a season in the program's history. Sophomore libero
Mikayla Porr (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) led the team defensively with 17 digs, while recording a match-high five service aces.
Amanda Williams led the Hawks in the setback with 10 kills on a .350 hitting percentage, while posting three block assists. Jewel Hays facilitated the offense with 28 assists, while adding six digs. CC Chrisom led the team defensively with 12 digs.
