WELLESLEY, Mass. - October 7, 2015 - The Colby-Sawyer women's volleyball team fell at Wellesley, 3-1 on Wednesday night in nonconference action. After dropping the first set 28-26, the Blue came back and took the next three sets by scores of 25-23, 25-14 and 25-21. 

The Chargers will try to rebound this weekend with matches against Endicott, Babson and Moravian. All three matches will take place at Endicott with the Chargers playing the Gulls on Friday and Babson and Moravian on Saturday.

Senior Kelsey McCulley led the Chargers with 11 kills, while freshman Gabrielle Ratte added seven. Senior Laura Smolinski collected a double-double of 22 assists and a match best 18 digs. 

Junior Gabrielle Rodriguez was the Chargers' libero this evening and recorded 14 digs. Sophomore Alli Lahiff had a team-high five total blocks. 

An early 5-1 Wellesley edge in the first set slowly dwindled as the Chargers rallied to tie the game at 10-10. No more than two points separated the sides until Wellesley scored three straight points, thanks to a pair of kills from the Blue and a Colby-Sawyer error. The lead was short lived as the Chargers countered to tie the match, 18-18, before running the score to 26-26. The Chargers then capitalized on a pair of Wellesley errors to take the 28-26 win.

The Blue countered with a two-point win in the second set, coming back to earn the victory despite trailing late in the set. With Colby-Sawyer holding a 20-15 lead, Wellesley scored eight of the next 10 points in the game, taking a 23-22 advantage following a service ace from sophomore Katie Yan (Cohoes, N.Y.). Back-to-back kills closed out the 25-23 victory.

Wellesley took a 2-1 lead by winning the third set 25-14.

The Chargers and Blue went back and forth to open the fourth and final set, as Wellesley took an 11-9 lead following a kill from Yasmine Reece. The Wellesley advantage then grew, as Reece put down eight of her 17 kills in the last set. Wellesley jumped to a 20-11 lead before Colby-Sawyer closed the gap to five, at 23-18. Elise Griffin put down her final kill of the night before three straight Charger points, including two aces from Smolinski, brought the visitors back to within three, at 24-21. However, Reece put an end to the match, delivering her final kill to give Wellesley the 25-21 win and the 3-1 match victory. 

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