Volleyball Clips Curry in Straight Sets

BOSTON – Suffolk volleyball returned to Commonwealth Coast Conference play in sweeping fashion as the Rams rolled past Curry, 3-0, Tuesday night at Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court. The league win came via set scores 25-18, 25-14 and 25-18. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Curry 0
RECORDS: Suffolk (11-7, 2-0 CCC) | Curry (4-11, 0-3 CCC) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk's 7-2 lead dwindled down to two after Curry coupled three points together. That turned into the story of the set as the Rams built a comfortable advantage the Colonels charged back with 3-0 spurts. The last run chipped the blue-and-gold's lead to 21-17. Suffolk took control the rest of the way as it outscored the visitors 4-1 to lock up the frame, 25-18.  

Playing field leveled in the second stanza as the lead flipped three times and the score tied six. With the Rams in front 9-8 a 6-2 stretch pushed the host ahead 15-10 to force a Colonels timeout. Out of that huddle, Suffolk limited Curry to just four points the rest of the way to surge to a second set victory, 25-14. 

Down 5-4, a Grace Cervenka kill knotted things at 5-all and sent McKenna Keowen to the service line. The captain commanded served a 7-0 Rams' run to build a 12-5 margin. That stretch featured four aces from Keowen with Cervena supplying a block and kill, respectively.  

From there, the Colonels came back and got the gap down to two, 18-16. A Rams response came with a 4-1 stretch that forced Curry to use its second timeout of the frame at 22-17.  

A monster kill by Cervenka set-up by a one-handed pass from Aislinn Lanigan came immediately out of the break A Suffolk service error allowed the Colonels to score once more, but the rest was all Rams as kills from Chloe Clement and Emily Norgrove wrapped up the sweep. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Jessica Weber produced 12 kills on a .556 attack percentage with two digs and two assists. 
• Cervenka contributed eight kills on a .538 conversion rate to go along with four digs, two blocks, one ace and one assist. 
• Keowen had a well-balanced night of seven digs, five aces, five kills, two helpers and one block. 
• Sami Shore supplied seven kills on a .667 attack percentage with one dig. 
• Tatum Kalt recorded 15 digs to pace the defense. 
• Jayla Martinez and Aislinn Lanigan set up the attack with 16 assists and 15 assists, respectively.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk started CCC play 2-0 for the first time. 
• The Rams defeated the Colonels for the fourth straight meeting to move to 8-3 versus Curry since 2010. 
• Behind tonight's triumph, there have been five sweeps in the all-time series. The first-ever meeting in 2010 and the last four outings, all of which were Suffolk wins. 
• In Boston, the Rams are 5-1 versus the Colonels. 
• Suffolk is 4-0 against Curry in the Scott Blanchard era. 
• Prior to first serve, Suffolk recognized Keowen as the program's all-time kills leader, a record the junior set Saturday, Sept. 30 in the third set at WestConn.
• Keowen served a career-high seven aces. 
• Shore hit at a career-best .667 clip with seven kills. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk wraps up the week at home Thursday, Oct. 5 with a Beantown battle versus Emerson at 6 p.m.