October 8, 2009
Eagles Hold Off St. Joseph's And Record Crowd In Five-Set Marathon

With information from St. Joseph's College Sports Information

Standish, Maine - In front of a record hostile crowd, the Daniel Webster College women's volleyball team found the best antidote to the silence the masses - a senior on one side, a rookie on the other and in the middle, a setter who put together a record night of her own.

Sophomore Caitlyn DiPierro (Billerica, Mass.) dished out a career high 31 assists and rookie Chelsey Crawford posted a double double with a season and career high 15 kills, added 10 digs and recorded four total blocks, leading the Eagles past host St. Joseph's (Maine) in a five-set marathon, 13-25, 25-21, 25-21, 19-25, 15-8 before an electric record crowd of nearly 400 at the Alfond Center Thursday night.

Senior Kristina Rieger (Concord, NH) helped provided the Eagles (6-4) with an important second weapon up front (11 kills, 12 digs), providing the Eagles with a steady two-fisted attack all night, while rookie libero Catherine Ferraro (Litchfield, NH) notched 18 digs to lead all players in the five-set duel.

When DiPierro wasn't setting up an Eagle kill, she was contributing another personal best of her own, finishing with a career best eight in total. She also found time to pull in seven digs and knock down two aces.

Rookie Samantha Hill (Hudson, N.H.) chipped in with five kills and a team high three aces, while Junior Emily Travis also added an important four kills, eight digs and two blocks.

A program-record 387 fans had flocked to the Alfond as Saint Joseph’s (12-10) hosted a "white-out" night, and easily broke the previous all-time record of 200 patrons.

Kiah Begley (Berwick, ME) picked up her fifth double-double of the fall for the Monks with 25 assists and 16 digs and, with an assist on the Monks’ seventh point in the second set, became the second player in the last 12 seasons at St. Joe’s to record over 500 assists in a single season.

Sarah Hawkes (Pownal, ME) matched Begley’s effort with 16 digs and collected 9 kills and Caitlin Cleary (Scarborough, ME) recorded 12 digs and 8 kills in the losing effort. Leocadya Koziski (Peabody, MA) and Samantha Varrell (Portsmouth, NH) both notched 11 digs for Saint Joseph’s.

Saint Joseph’s will next play at Husson University in a non-conference match on October 14th at 7:00 PM.

Daniel Webster will play at Mitchell College on Saturday as the first leg of a conference tri-match at 11:00 AM that also later includes a matchup with Southern Vermont.