Volleyball drops five set thriller in MASCAC opener to Rams

North Adams, MA- In the return to MASCAC Volleyball, the visiting Framingham State University Rams and the MCLA Trailblazers put on a show tonight in the Amsler Campus Center Gym.  After many highlight plays, the Rams pulled out a hard fought 3-2 victory over the Trailblazers.  The return to conference play was the first action since the 2019 season.

The Rams are now 3-3 overall but 1-0 in the conference.  MCLA evens their early season mark at 2-2 and is 0-1 in conference play.

The Rams took the first two sets after a sizable rally in the second to jump out to a 2-0 set advantage.  From there, MCLA asserted themselves in the third set with a 25-22 win and eventually forced a fifth and deciding set with a 25-19 win in the fourth.

In the decisive fifth set, the Rams never trailed.  They jumped out to an early 5-1 lead and then opened up a 9-3 mark forcing an MCLA timeout.  From there the Trailblazers clawed their way back to get within 11-9 before Framingham closed things out the set with a 15-10 win.  Brandee Thomas got the final kill to secure the win.

Both teams filled the stat sheet up.  The Rams were led by Thomas' match best 18 kills.  She added 22 digs to complete the double double.  Valerie Sullivan came off the bench to collect 13 kills.  Ram setter Morgan Failla recorded 47 assists on the evening.  Isabel Henwood notched a team best 24 digs while Hayley Gaskin added 18 digs while Failla added 17.  

For MCLA, they were paced by Chloie Garber's team high 16 kills.  Kelly Moczulski chipped in with 14 kills and Reagan Scattergood notched 12.  Natasha Stewart was outstanding setting up the offense to the tune of 48 assists.  Defensively for the Trailblazers Moczulski had a team best 29 digs while Ellie Walter-Goodspeed added 24.  Garber and Stewart ended with 20 and 19 digs respectively.

MCLA is back in action on Thursday night when they host SUNY-Delhi in non league action.