Worcester Struck Down by Cougars

Worcester, MA- The Worcester State Lancers made their way across town to Clark University for a non-conference matchup tonight at Kneller Gymnasium. The Cougars closed out the Lancers in three sets with (25-19, 25-8, 25-21) and had dominant control of the match for most of the evening.

The Lancers effort was led by sophomore Meaghan Marcoux (North Smithfield, RI; 11 digs and a service ace) and senior Camryn Burgio (Quincy, MA; seven digs and five kills) on the night. Worcester State recorded 26 kills in the loss, while senior Erin Gaffney (Worcester, MA) led the team with a total of 7.5 points.

The first set saw the Lancers start strong, matching point for point with Clark until the Cougars' Yvonne Torres managed to provide a small margin of cushion points for the home team. From there both teams continued to rally back and forth, staying point on point with each other. Burgio, Gaffney and first year Cassidy D'Esposito (Medford, MA) worked to keep the set within reach, but the cushion started by Torres held strong and an ultimate service ace closed it out in the Cougars favor. The second set was held dominantly in Clark's hands, jumping quickly out to a 20-5 lead that never saw the Lancers score two consecutive points in the set. The third set brought a return to form for Worcester as they worked to steal back a set and continue the hunt for victory. Sophomore Angela Colonis (Waterford, CT), MASCAC spotlight player of the week, helped score the first points of the set with an assist to junior Maeve Cadogan (Wilmington, MA), and her own service ace, to get the team off and rolling. Both programs fought, bouncing point to point, seeing the set tied up twice, before a late 7-3 point rally put Clark ahead. The Lancers held strong and pushed the score to within two points, bringing the match to 23-21 before the Cougars managed to close out the final set off with a kill by Torres to clinch the victory.

This loss moves the Lancers to a 3-15 record on the year, while Clark finishes the night at 10-9. The Lancers are back in action on Saturday October 8 at Smith where they face off in a tri-match against Oneonta and Smith College.