October 15, 2009
Eagles Sweep Past Pine Manor, 3-0

Chestnut Hill, Mass. - Behind serves from captain Kristina Rieger (Concord, NH) and four early Pine Manor (1-15) errors, the Daniel Webster women's volleyball team soared to an 11-0 lead  and never looked back on the way to a 3-0 sweep of the Gators in a New England regional contest Thursday night.

The win was the fourth straight for Daniel Webster (9-4), who have now won seven of their last eight outings.

The Eagles, who improved to 7-3 all time against their former GNAC rivals, went up 17-1 in what ended as a 25-7 rout in game one, before Pine Manor regrouped and put forth a tighter effort in games two and three.

The Eagles opened up another early lead in game two, but Pine Manor showed its resiliency with four straight points on serves from freshman Alie Johnston to cut the Eagles lead to 13-11. But five straight points with sophomore Emily Travis (Somerset, MA) serving extended the Daniel Webster lead to 17-11. The Gators battled, but could not cut the margin to fewer than five the remainder of the way, falling 25-18.

Pine Manor controlled game three in the early going, opening up a 7-5 lead on a Johnston block as part of a 6-0 run that pulled the Gators ahead 8-5.

The Eagles again caught fire with Travis at serve, going on a 6-0 run of their own to break a 12-12 tie and open up a sizable lead.

A block and a kill from sophomore Jen Gross helped cut the Eagles lead to 23-17, but Gross’ Gators couldn’t cut the lead to fewer than four. Finally, Daniel Webster’s Jennifer Finneran (Barnstead, N.H.) ended Pine Manor’s hope with a block to seal the 25-20 win.