Women's Volleyball Sweeps Berks In NEAC Quarterfinals

The Wells College women's volleyball team opened North Eastern Athletic Conference playoff action with a straight-sets opening round victory over Penn State-Berks on Friday, Nov. 4 at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, N.Y. Set scores were 33-31, 25-22, 25-22.

The victory was the first playoff win for the program since being reinstated as an NCAA Division III member for the 2012 season. It is the third year in a row that Wells has qualified for the conference tournament, but the first time that the Express won its playoff opener. Wells improved to 19-10 on the season and Berks is 20-11.

The victory sends Wells to a semifinal round match against tournament host SUNY Poly on Saturday at noon. The second semifinal match will match Gallaudet University against Morrisville State College. The championship match is Sunday at 1 p.m. and the winner of the NEAC title earns automatic qualification to the NCAA tournament.

Wells set the tone by persevering for a win in the opening set by a 33-31 score. The Express led late in the set, but Berks rallied and Wells ended up defending a few set points against. Wells closed out the set with a 33-31 victory. The Express won the last two sets by identical 25-22 scores. It was the second time this season that Wells defeated Penn State-Berks. During the regular season, Wells won 3-1 in a match hosted by Keuka College.

Jackie Allen led Wells with 11 kills and Olyvia Brazier and Anuhea Leite-Ah Yo had 10 kills each. Wells had 45 kills and 25 hitting errors for a .140 hitting percentage in the match.

Amanda Springer was a presence at the net with two solo blocks and four assisted blocks. Other defensive standouts included Leite-Ah Yo with 18 digs, Nadine Pershyn with 16 digs and Allen with 14 digs.