ASHLAND, Ohio – After splitting action on opening day, the New Haven volleyball team closed out the two-day Ashland Invitational with a pair of victories on Saturday opening up with a sweep of D'Youville before taking a four-set decision over West Liberty to close out the weekend 3-1.
In addition to their success on the court, a pair of Charger also garnered the first awards of the season as senior setter Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Academia Maria Reina) and junior outside hitter Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) each scored All-Tournament accolades, part of a seven-member team selected.
For the day, New Haven was led by Brown and freshman Katherine Rank (Parker, Colo./Ponderosa) who finished with a combined 22 and 21 kills respectively. Of the pair, Rank led the way and the team as a whole with an impressive .563 hitting percentage with the 21 kills coming on 32 attempts with three errors. Brown finished the day hitting .255 with 55 attempts and eight errors. Henwood finished the day with 66 assists, while libero Rilee Jessee (Edinburgh, Ind,/Columbus East) closed out the day with 29 combined digs.
New Haven 3, D'Youville 0
The Chargers opened up the day with a no-doubt first set against D'Youville, taking the early lead with a 25-8 decision before completing the sweep with 25-14 and 25-11 decisions in the second and third set.
Leading the Chargers hitters was a pair of freshman, Peyton Mast (Parker Hills, Ky./Notre Dame Academy) and Katherine Rank (Parker, Colo./Ponderosa) who combined finished with 16 kills. Mast led the duo with nine kills, while Rank added seven but did so without suffering an error in nine attempts for a .778 attack percentage. Joining the duo was Brown who finished with eight kills. As a team, New Haven hit .462 for the match with a combined total of 36 kills and hit just six errors in 65 attempts.
Henwood closed out the opening match of the day with 27 assists while adding a trio of service aces and five digs. Henwood's three aces were part of a team total 14 with Jessee leading the way with four and Brown adding with a trio. Jessee also led the team with 10 digs, while Brown chipped in with nine.
New Haven 3, West Liberty 1
The Chargers started the second match of the day the exact same way they started the first, taking the opening set 25-8 and took the 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-22 decision in the second set. West Liberty wasn't going to go away lightly, extending the match to a fourth set with the Blue and Gold putting the victory in the books with a 25-15 decision in the fourth.
In the nightcap, Rank again led the way, racking up 14 kills which matched the junior hitter Brown for the team high. Of the pair, Rank closed out the match hitting .478 with three errors in 23 total attacks. This time around with was a different freshman that joined in on leading the squad with Grace Juergens (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Township) drilling eight kills while sophomore Kylie Reynolds-Martin (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) finished with seven.
The Chargers senior setter Henwood closed out the second match with her high for the day with 39 assists with just a single error against the Hilltoppers, while she added those assists to 12 digs to complete a double double.
Also adding a double double in the match was Brown who finished with 16 digs, while the libero, Jessee, led the way defensively with 19 digs and Juergens completed a quad of players with double figures adding 11 digs.
Next on Tap
After returning from Ohio, the Chargers will begin preparing for their second tournament of the season which will take place at the Dana Center in Waltham, Mass., the Bentley Invitational. New Haven will open the two-day tournament with a pair of matches on Friday, beginning with Tampa at 12:30 p.m. before taking on the host Falcons at 6:00 p.m. The Chargers will then close out the tournament on Saturday as they take on American International at 10:00 a.m.
