Lasell Wins 3-Straight to Defeat Falcons 3-1

Photo by Ron Waite
Photo by Ron Waite

Despite a match-high 22 digs from sophomore Alyssa Puccilli (Milford, Conn.), the Albertus Magnus women's volleyball team fell to Lasell College 3-1 (21-25, 25-14, 25-22, 25-12) on Friday night at Simmons College in Boston.

Puccilli added one kill to her effort, while senior outside hitter and GNAC Offensive Player of the Week Melissa Manning registered her 10th double-double of the season with a team-high 11 kills along with 13 digs. She added three service aces.

Freshman Caitlin Prete (Milford, Conn.) added an impressive 17 digs for Albertus to go along with two service aces and nine kills.  The freshman's nine kills puts her over the 100-kill mark for the season as she now has 108 kills after the Falcons' first match of the night.

Senior Lily Dy dished out 26 assists for the Falcons, who fell to 9-8 overall with the loss and 1-4 in GNAC play.

The Falcons came out strong in the opening set of the night, winning 25-21.  The Falcons' broke open a seven-all tie to take a 10-7 lead thanks to a kill and back-to-back service aces by Melissa Manning.  After a Lasell service error made the score 14-12, the Falcons' rattled off five-straight points before the Lasers called a timeout.  The Falcons' charge was led by stellar serving from Caitlin Prete, who recorded both of her service aces of the match during that Albertus run.

Albertus was able to secure the 25-21 victory despite only having nine total kills in the set against Lasell's 10.

After dropping the second set 25-14, Albertus battled in set number three before falling in the frame 25-22.  The Falcons held a 17-8 lead in the set after a Caitlin Prete kill before Lasell went on an 8-2 run to tie the score at 19.  Another Caitlin Prete kill knotted the score at 22 but a Falcon service error and hitting error accounted for two of the final three Laser points, giving Lasell a 25-22 come-from-behind victory.

The Falcons' struggled in the final set, falling behind 13-4 before Lasell jumped out to a 21-10 lead.  Three-straight kills secured the victory for the Lasers as they clinched the match with a 25-12 fourth-set win.

Amber Cohens (Hamden, Conn.) tallied six kills on the night in 21 tries for the Falcons, while adding a block, while freshman Amy Seliga (East Haven, Conn.) added two kills, an assist, a service ace, and one dig.

Puccilli's 22 digs puts her over the 200-dig mark this season as she finished the contest with 221 so far in 2013.