Miami Defeats Boston College in Four Games
Oct. 29, 2006
Chestnut Hill, Mass. – The University of Miami women’s volleyball team played four games in an ACC match, taking down the Eagles of Boston College 3-1 (20-30, 30-21, 30-25, 30-28) at the Power Gym in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The Hurricanes sit 9-13 overall and 6-7 in the league, while Boston College fall 7-15, 5-8 in the league.
Jill Robinson led the match in assists with 36. The senior setter has season total of 913 assists, and is 87 assists shy of reaching the 1,000 mark. Adding in her total for the season, Robinson’s career total has reached well over 4,000 with 4,628 total career assists. She is 372 assists away of reaching the 5,000 career mark, making her the only Miami player in history to achieve this feat. In addition to Robinson’s assists, she also tallied 11 digs, making this her 11th double-double for the season.
Also leading today’s match was Frannie Savage who posted 19 total kills. She registered seven defensive digs along with two total blocks, and a service ace. Junior Ciara Michel led the match in blocks with two solos and seven block assists.
Freshman Cassie Loessberg led her team on the defensive end by posting a career high 25 digs. She places third on the UM roster with 220 total digs this season. Michelle Bruin and Sara Duncan also contributed to the Hurricanes’ defense with 15 and 10 digs respectively.
As a team, Miami led the match defensively by out-blocking Boston College 13.5-8 and registered 14 more digs with a total of 85. On offense, the Hurricanes were four kills ahead of the Eagles 60-56, tallied a .191 hitting percentage over Boston College’s .135, posted 55 total assists, and registered four service aces.
“It was a great team effort, as a lot of people stepped in and made plays for us”, said head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch. “Our defense with blocking really played a big role in our win.”
Game one got underway with both teams battling for the lead as five tied scores were posted before the Eagles posted 10-lead ahead of the Hurricanes, and never looked back. Midway through, Boston College stretched their lead by as much as five, with the score 20-15 off an attack error by Ciara Michel, sending UM to their first timeout. Back on the court, Jill Robinson posted a kill but it did not stop the BC’s four point run taking their lead to 24-16. Miami took their last timeout off of kill by Dorota Niemczewska. With the Eagles lead up by eight at 26-18, the Hurricanes could only tally two more kills, as Boston College Capitalized on Miami’s three errors, to take the 30-20 win.
Boston College jumped out to an early lead in game two, but could not stop the attack led by Ciara Michel with eight kills and Sara Duncan with five kills, which lead to a 30-21 Miami win. With the BC lead at 10-9, the Canes went on a four-point run off three kills and an attack error from the Eagles, to take their first lead at 13-10. Savage and Michel came up with another three back-to-back kills for a 16-11 lead. BC rallied back to bring the score with two, 18-20 after a service error from Loessberg. But the Eagles would only go on to put up three more points, as Miami registered five kills, two blocks including a solo by Michel, and capitalized on Boston College’s final three errors to finish with the win and a 1-1 tied match.
“I was really proud to see the way Ciara made a big change after game one”, commented Lantagne Welch.
In game three Miami took an early 15-9 lead after a five-point run with two kills and a block by Savage. With the score 22-16 and UM in the lead, BC began their rally with four-point run of their own, to slice the lead to two at 20-22, sending Miami to the bench for a timeout. Boston College trailed the Hurricanes by as much as three, on up to a tied score at 24-all. Miami took the next two points sending BC the bench this time for a timeout at 26-24. The next three sets saw errors by both squads eventually leading to a match-point 29-25 in favor of the Hurricanes off of a Woods kill. Boston College took their final timeout, only to come back with an attack error by Kelsey Johnson, giving Miami the 30-25 win and a 2-1 game lead.
A 9-0 start by the Hurricanes in the final game was a reflection of their competitive style of play that led to their 30-28 win and a match victory. Out of the five tied scores in the game, four came from the Eagles. BC tried to keep up with Miami’s attack through the efforts of Savage’s six kills and Michel’s four, and their defensive performance led by Loessberg with 11 digs. At 20-19, Boston College posted their only lead, right before Miami’s Ashley Woods responded with a kill to set the score at 20-all, followed by two back-to-back attack errors by the Eagles, sending BC to a timeout. With Miami in the lead at 27-24, Miami was forced to take their final timeout after Taylor Williams came up with a kill and Jill Robinson posted an attack error. Another error off of the Canes registered the final tied score at 27-all. At match-point 29-28 from a final kill by Woods sending Miami on their way to the final win, BC’s Taylor Williams tried to tie the score off of an attack that came up as error, as Sara Duncan and Lici McGee came up with the block assists to give the Hurricanes the final win.
“A lot of our offense came from Frannie and Ciara to help shoulder the load. They took some really nice swings”, Lantagne Welch stated.
“We blocked extremely well today. I’m really proud of our middles, Ciara and Lici, as they did a nice job of controlling the net and getting over and making good things happen. We were able to get some nice defense behind it.”
Miami will be back on the court at the Knight Sports Complex Friday November 3, as they take on Georgia Tech in their second ACC match of the season. The match is set to begin at 4:00 pm.
For tickets, contact the Hurricane Ticket Office at 305-284-CANE, or log onto www.hurricanesports.com.
