No. 10 MIT Spoils Volleyball’s Home Opener in Straight Sets

BOSTON – Suffolk volleyball slipped in its first match at Larry E. and Michael S. Smith of the 2023 season as the nationally ranked Engineers of No. 10 MIT downed the Rams in sweeping fashion. The 3-0 setback came via set scores 25-16, 25-18 and 25-14. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 0 | No. 10 MIT 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (1-4) | No. 10 MIT (4-0)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk controlled the action early on as the Rams' early 3-0 lead turned into a 7-3 advantage. The Engineers battled back, leveled the playing field and grabbed a 12-9 lead thanks to a 9-2 run. It was all MIT from there with the visitors going up 18-11 and cruising to the 25-16 final in the first frame.  

Things remained close at the midway point of the second stanza with things knotted at 13-all. The Engineers rattled off six unanswered to grab a 19-13 cushion. See-saw action wrapped up the set, that ended in MIT's favor, 25-18.  

The Engineers zoomed out to a 9-3 lead that quickly turned into a 13-5 margin. Suffolk pulled within six, 18-12, but the distance proved to be too much ground for the Rams to mount a comeback. 

STATISTIACLLY SPEAKING

• Jessica Weber and Sami Shore paced Suffolk's offense with six kills apiece. The latter hit .455 and added one block and one dig. 
• Jasmine James and McKenna Keowen added five kills each. 
• Keowen and Tatum Kalt led the defensive unit with 10 digs each. 
• Morgan Kelsey, who had four digs, served all four of the Rams aces. 
• Jayla Martinez set-up the 25-kill attack with 14 assists.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Shore matched a career-best six kills.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk heads to Weston, Massachusetts Saturday, Sept. 9 for a tri-match at Regis featuring UMass Dartmouth. The Rams will first face the host Pride at 11 a.m., before challenging the Corsairs at 1 p.m.