Bangor, ME -  Husson University hosted a North Atlantic Conference volleyball play-day on Saturday, featuring four key matches as the regular season comes to a close.  Other schools participating were the Green Mountain College Eagles, the Maine Maritime Academy Mariners, and the Castleton State College Spartans.  

In the first match of the day, Husson won the battle of the Eagles with a straight-set victory over Green Mountain (25-15, 25-16, 25-18).   

Husson was slow to rise against Green Mountain, as GMC took a quick 7-0 lead to start game one.  Husson was able to come back to tie it at 13-13, and went on a 12-2 run from there to take a 1-0 advantage in the match.  

Husson controlled most of the play in games two and three, as they played solid defensively and took advantage of GMC's hitting errors and service-receive errors (15 and 13 respectively) to sweep the match.  

"We didn't play our best match overall against Green Mountain, but our defense was good so I was happy with that," Husson coach Jodie Fairbank said after the match.  "Everyone was covering each other and just playing well as a team."

Kristen Atwood (Cumberland, ME) led the Husson offense with six kills on 14 attacks, while Lindsay Chapman (Gorham, ME) added five kills and 12 digs with two solo blocks.  

Alexandra deHertogh (Cumberland, RI), Autumn Wilber (Tuftonboro, NH), and Emma Plouffe (Frankfort, NY) all added three kills for Husson, and Casey Lopes (New Bedford, MA) tallied 18 assists with 11 digs and four aces.  

Green Mountain was sparked offensively by Torie Cowell with a match-high eight kills, while Madison Wage and Hayley Provost each had three.  Setter Jennifer Seredejko distributed 14 aces and picked up 12 digs as well.  Libero Celeste Bowers was impressive on defense for Green Mountain, scooping up a match-high 24 digs.  

Husson's contest with Castleton proved to be the match of the day, and it also ended up being a fight for the right to finish third place in the NAC regular season standings.  Castleton would wind up winning the match in straight sets, but every game had exciting, back-and-forth action that was decided by the slimmest of margins (28-26, 25-23, 27-25).  

Castleton was led by Cassidy Tedeschi with nine kills, while Amanda Chambers, Kaylee Pratt, and Brittany Brayman each added six.  Brayman was impressive defensively as well as she compiled a match-high 25 digs.  Michaela Babineau and Shelby Smyth shared the setting duties, with Babineau totaling 14 assists and Smyth having 11.  

Husson was led in the match by Chapman with seven kills, three solo blocks, and 24 digs.  Wilber,  deHertogh,  Atwood, and Lopes all added four kills.  Lopes also tallied 19 assists and 17 digs, while libero Kara Graham (East Machias, ME) had 18 digs.  

"We played pretty well against Castleton, it was just a couple of points here and there that got away from us," Fairbank said.  "Just a couple of lapses here and there were the difference in the match.

"The good news is we still end up fourth so we get to host a quarterfinal match next weekend," she added.  "And we've got a week to prepare for Green Mountain."

In the matchup between Castleton and Maine Maritime, the Spartans gave the Mariners all they could handle but were out-matched in the long-run as Maine Maritime swept in three sets (25-11, 25-20, 25-17).  

After MMA took game one with relative ease, Castleton was able to keep game two close and even held a lead at 17-16.  The Mariners were able to right their ship towards the end of game two, and keep the momentum going into game three to complete the sweep.

Maine Maritime compiled 34 kills as a team in the three games, and hit for a .256 average as a team.  Gillian O'Neal, Melissa Lail, and Sydney Robertson all had eight kills apiece for the Mariners, while Betsy Trenckmann and Molly Marcotte each contributed five kills.  Samantha Tumolo ran an efficient offense for Maine Maritime with 29 assists, while Lail led the team with four aces and O'Neal added 10 digs.  

Castleton had five kills apiece from Kaylee Pratt and Brittany Brayman, while Shelby Smyth passed out 10 assists.  Brayman also had a match-high 16 digs.  

Maine Maritime was also able to sweep Green Mountain in straight sets (25-10, 25-8, 25-14).

Gillian O'Neal led the Mariners offensively with nine kills on 16 attacks, while Melissa Lail and Sydney Robertson each added seven.  Samantha Tumolo had 16 attacks for MMA, while O'Neal posted 11 digs and five service aces.  

Green Mountain was paced by Torie Cowell with four kills, while Jennifer Seredejko had eight assists.  Celeste Bowers and Hayley provost each had double-digit digs, with 11 and 10 respectively.  

With the split, Husson finishes their regular season with an 11-18 overall record (3-3 NAC).  MMA improves to 16-8 with the two victories (5-1 NAC), Castleton went to 8-12 (3-3 NAC) with a split, and Green Mountain falls to 5-16 (2-4 NAC) with two losses.  

The North Atlantic Conference women's volleyball playoff seeding is now settled, and Colby-Sawyer College earns the number one seed with an unblemished 6-0 conference record.  Maine Maritime finishes second at 5-1, Castleton ekes out Husson for third place due to today's result as they both finished 3-3, and Green Mountain edges out Lyndon State for fifth as they both finished 2-4.  Johnson State College will not receive a playoff bid as they finished in seventh place, just outside the tournament bracket. 

Colby-Sawyer and Maine Maritime will each receive a bye for the quarterfinal round, leaving #3 Castleton to host #6 Lyndon and #4 Husson to host #5 Green Mountain.  Quarterfinal matches will take place next Saturday, November 2, at times yet to be determined.  Colby-Sawyer will host the semifinal and championship rounds the following Friday and Saturday, November 8th and 9th.