Women’s volleyball coach Ken Goon summed up the 2002 season succinctly, “It was tough, but it ended on a positive note.”
That it did, as the UMass Boston Beacons revenged a loss from earlier in the season and defeated the Leopards of Wentworth Institute of Technology 3-1.
The win was the second in a row, for the Beacons, who finished for 5-18 record. The team, however, came up 0-7 in Little East Conference play.
The game was the grand finale for seniors Melissa Hales and Laurel Smith Each athlete had been with the team for three seasons. Hales has been one of the top setters in the Little East Conference the last two seasons and Smith has made a reputation for herself as one of the top conference leaders in kill totals.
The Beacons dropped the first set, 18-30. Wentworth came out early and played an effective style of offensive as the team jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead. The Beacons had plenty of chances to score points on kill attempts, but many of the attempts went either long or wide. Wentworth gradually built the lead to double digits and had little difficulty closing out the set.
The Beacons’ fortunes turned around quickly at the start of the second set. Freshman Stephanie Adams served up three straight aces (14 aces for the game) as UMB jumped out front 7-2. Poor serving and lack of cohesiveness heavily plagued Wentworth’s offensive.
The Beacons, however, executed with precision and patience. Several times UMB battled back and forth on long exchanges with the Leopards and came out on top with points. On defensive, Calvary Bou, Giselli Felicio, and Colleen McDonnell each came up with a spectacular dig to keep the play going. The team stifled all runs by Wentworth en route to a 30-20 second set win.
It was nearly déjà vu all over again as Adams took charge from the opening serve, coming up with seven aces, six consecutively, as the Beacons stormed out to lead, forcing a bewildered and mildly shocked Wentworth to take a timeout.
The Leopards recovered from the initial onslaught, gradually cutting the lead to one point at 23-22. After the Beacons took a timeout to regroup, McDonnell scored a point on an emphatic kill attempt. This point propelled the team to quickly finish off the set 30-24.
Wentworth began the fourth set taking a 4-1 lead. Neither team was able to establish significant momentum as the Leopards held slim leads of one and two points.
UMB tied the game up at 16 and then 18 on a service ace by Felicio. However, Wentworth countered with three consecutive points and took their largest lead of the set 23-19.
UMB surged back with three consecutive points of their own to cut the lead to one. A McDonnell ace and a clever tip by Hales gave the Beacons their first lead of the set at 24-23. McDonnell and Smith registered some points on kill attempts. The victory was secured for the Beacons when a Wentworth player hit the ball into the net for a final set score of 30-26.
After the match, Goon had a smile on his face when he was asked to assess his first season at UMass Boston. “For awhile, the season was touch and go. We started out with only four players, but fortunately we got a few more. I hope to have more success recruiting for next season.”
“However, these players worked very hard all season and I’m proud of them.”