Volleyball preps for date with top seeded Worcester State on Thursday
North Adams, MA- On the heels of Tuesday night's quarterfinal victory over Bridgewater State, the MCLA Volleyball team will now travel to top seeded Worcester State on Thursday evening in the MASCAC semifinal round. The Trailblazers fell to the Lancers in Worcester earlier this season by a 3-1 score back on October 12th. The Lancers earned the top seed going a perfect 7-0 in league play this season.
The winner of Thursday's semifinal will advance to the MASCAC Championship game and will be one step closer to an NCAA tournament bid. MCLA is seeking their first ever tournament championship and trip to the tournament. The Lancers are seeing their first championship since the 2018 season.
In the October contest, the Lancers took the opening two sets 25-22 and 25-21 before MCLA rallied to win the third 25-22. The Lancers would close out MCLA 25-20 in the fourth set to earn the win.
All season long, MCLA has been led offensively by the trio of Chloie Garber, Reagan Scattergood, and Kelly Moczulski. The three rank 1st, 3rd, and 4th respectively in kills per set in the conference. Garber leads the MASCAC with 323 total kills on the season. Natasha Stewart has set them up all season long as she leads the conference by a wide margin with 825 assists this season.
The Lancers are led by one of the top players in the conference in Natalie Gillis. She is second in the conference in kills/set amassing 231 on the season. She also is a factor on the defensive side with 275 digs. Leelle Tyler is also a factor in the Lancer offense as she ranks 6th in the confernce in kills per set.
Both teams played a bit short handed in the earlier meeting as MCLA's Moczulski and WSU's Tyler each missed the contest.
The winner moves on to Saturday's conference final They'll take on the winner of the other semifinal that features #2 Westfield State hosting #3 Framingham State. That matchup is also on Thursday.
The MCLA/WSU matchup will be livestreamed on www.mascac.tv