Volleyball Cruises Past Salem State in Straight Sets

BOSTON – Six different Rams produced new personal-best as Suffolk volleyball swept Salem State, 3-0, Thursday night at the Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Salem State 0
RECORDS: Suffolk (7-4) | Salem State (0-6)  

SET ONE RECAP (25-12, SUFFOLK)

• Salem State put the first two points up on the board before Suffolk ran off three straight points capped off by an ace from Kaleigh Khanna to flip the switch in its favor. 
• The lead did not remain in the Rams' favor for long, however, as the Vikings scored five straight to go ahead, 8-3. 
• Scott Blanchard used his first timeout and the break worked as the blue-and-gold responded with four quick points to cut the margin to one, 8-7. 
• A game of runs continued with the Vikings pulling ahead by a few, 11-7. 
• After a bad Salem serve, the Rams rallied on a 9-0 spurt to capture the advantage, 16-11. 
• SSU's second time of the set did not slow down Suffolk as the hosts outscored the visitors 9-1 the rest of the way, including eight straight points, five of which were Emerson Martin aces, to seal the first frame.  

SET TWO RECAP (25-20, SUFFOLK)

• A pair of lead changes and seven ties were featured over the opening portion of the stanza as the score stood at 9-all. 
• Three consecutive points from the Rams gave the hosts a 12-9 edge at the midway point. 
• The Vikings came back to lock things at 13-13. 
• From there, it was a ping pong with points as the score lead exchanged three times and the score locked five with the last coming at 17-17. 
• Suffolk broke open the equal game with its second 3-0 spurt of the stanza to grab a 20-17 advantage. 
• A Salem timeout attempted to slow Suffolk down, but this time the Rams managed to maintain the margin to go up 2-0 in the match.   

SET THREE RECAP (25-16, SUFFOLK)

• Suffolk scored five straight out of a 10-all tie to force SSU's coach to call her team over to talk. 
• The break was not enough to stop the Rams as the pushed forward to go up 20-13. 
• The team's traded points out of the huddle before Suffolk closed on a 3-0 stretch. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Kenzley Bell's all-around night featured a double-double effort of a team-leading 12 kills and 11 digs to go along with five aces and a pair of blocks. 
• Khanna provided eight kills, two blocks, two digs and one ace. 
• Sarah Mullahy pitched in six kills, three blocks and two digs. 
• Martin contributed on both ends with four aces, three kills, two handouts, two digs and one block. 
• Harmony Johnson set up the Rams' 33-kill offense with 27 assists. The freshman added eight digs, two aces, one assist and one block to her stat line.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk improved to 13-4 all-time against Salem State. 
• The Rams coupled back-to-back wins together over the Vikings since stringing eight triumphs in a row over SSU from 2009 to 2014. 
• Suffolk moved to 2-1 versus Salem State under Scott Blanchard's guidance. 
• Bell recorded her first collegiate double-double and rewrote new career numbers in kills (12) and blocks (2). 
• Martin registered career-bests in aces (4), handouts (2) and matched a career-high one block. 
• Khanna's eight kills were a personal high for the senior. 
• Michelle Lo and Jordan Smith each had a career-high three digs to their credit.  

POST-GAME PIC
  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk is set for its first tri-match of the year, this Saturday, Sept. 21 as Mass. Maritime and Castleton are set to stop by the Ridgeway Building. The Rams will first face the Buccaneers at 11 a.m., before serving against the Spartans at 3 p.m.