New London, Conn. – The Albertus Magnus women's volleyball lost, 3-1, on the road versus in-state rival Mitchell on Saturday afternoon at the Yarnall Athletic Center. With the loss, the Falcons move to 1-1 on the season, while the Mariners took their home opener to improve to 1-1 overall. Mitchell won by a score of 25-23, 26-28, 25-19 and 25-19.
In the opening set, the Mariners grabbed four straight points on the serve of senior Amanda Garcia to take a 15-13 lead and never trailed again. Mitchell opened the margin to 24-18 but had trouble closing the door. Albertus Magnus benefitted from three errors and added kills by junior right side Amber Cohens (Hamden, Conn.) and sophomore middle hitter Ana Gomez (New Haven, Conn.) to cut the deficit to one, but Garcia stifled the comeback with a kill for set point.
The Falcons came out on top in the second set to tie the match, although the Mariners rallied back from a 24-21 hole to serve for the set at 26-25. Sophomore defensive specialist Marielis Muriel (New Haven, Conn.) tied the score with a kill on the ensuing rally, and after a Mitchell error put Albertus Magnus back on top by one, Gomez ended things with her fifth kill of the set.
In the third set, Mitchell led 12-7 when senior Nicole Caminiti stepped up to the service line and rallied her team to five straight points. Later, a kill by Colby Zitoli gave the Mariners their largest lead of the day at 18-8, and from there the home team cruised to a 2-1 lead in the match.
Mitchell held the lead for the majority of the final set as Caminiti once again served her squad to an early 5-1 lead. Williams carried the offensive load with five kills in the stanza while Garcia added three and Amanda Rowan contributed two.
Freshman middle hitter Megan Gritz (Milford, Conn.) paced Albertus Magnus with 11 kills while Gomez tacked on nine of her own. Senior defensive specialist Ramona Onofrio (East Haven, Conn.) finished with 29 assists and 10 digs for her second straight double-double, while freshman defensive specialst Megan Warnke (Naugatuck, Conn.) chipped in with a team-high 13 digs.
The Falcons return to action on Wednesday, September 9 with their home opener versus bay Path at 7:00 p.m. inside the Cosgrove Marcus Messer Athletic Center.