BEVERLY, Mass. -- The Bates volleyball team rallied from down two sets to one, prevailing 3-2 (19-25, 25-19, 19-25, 27-25, 15-13) in dramatic fashion Friday night at Endicott.
Junior
Elle Faris (Colusa, Calif.) paced the Bobcats (2-0) with a team-high 13 kills to go along with three service aces, three blocks, and three digs. Junior captain
Lauren Croom (Overland Park, Kan.) notched a team-high 17 assists while first-year
Alice Fischer (Olympia, Wash.) added 13 assists of her own. Croom matched Faris for the team lead with three service aces. Junior
Anaïs Reneaum (San Diego, Calif.) made life difficult at the net for the Gulls (2-2) with a match-high nine blocks, including two solo blocks. Senior
Sofia Castiglioni (Oakland, Calif.) was dominant as well, finishing with eight blocks. Senior
Logan Yogi (Kaneohe, Hawaii) tallied a team-high 15 digs, with junior captain
Malina Young (Redondo Beach, Calif.) adding 10 digs, seven kills, five blocks, two assists, and a service ace.
Trailing two sets to one, the Bobcats fell behind 5-0 in the fourth set. They quickly recovered to cut the deficit to 5-4 on a kill from junior
Nora Gilmer (Fairfax, Va.) on an assist from Croom. Endicott went up 9-5 on a Reagan Mitchell service ace before Bates answered with a 3-0 run, cutting the deficit to one on a Fischer service ace. A Faris kill gave the Bobcats their first lead of the set at 11-10.
Bates grabbed a 19-18 edge on a block from Reneaum and Young, only to see Endicott go on a 4-0 run to go up by three at 22-19 on a block by Angelina Fitzharris and Hadley Helenbrook. The Bobcats answered with a 4-0 run of their own, capped off by an ace from Young to make it 23-22. Kills by Fitzharris and Maguire made the score 24-23 in favor of the Gulls as Bates faced match point.
A kill from Faris tied things up at 24 before Helenbrook tallied another kill to give the hosts a second match point. Faris refused to be denied, tallying another kill for the equalizer. Then a block by Gilmer and Castiglioni followed by a Croom ace secured the set for the Bobcats by a count of 27-25.
The teams went to a decisive fifth set and the Bobcats raced out to a 4-1 lead on a block by Castiglioni and Young. A 3-0 run by the Gulls knotted things up as the teams went back-and-forth. The Bobcats found themselves down 11-9 before Faris answered again with back-to-back kills.
With the score tied at 13, Castiglioni and Young tallied back-to-back kills, securing the second straight win to start the year for Bates. Croom assisted on both kills that finished off the Gulls.
Prior to the dramatic final two sets, the two teams had traded off 25-19 victories, with Endicott taking the first set, Bates the second, and the Gulls the third, all by the same score.
Helenbrook led all players with 18 kills. Hannah Maguire dished out a match-high 40 assists to go along with six service aces and 11 digs. Abby Downs added a match-high 17 digs for the hosts.
The Bobcats are back in action on Saturday, competing in a pair of matches. They square off with Dean at 1 p.m. and Simmons at 3 p.m., with Simmons hosting both matches at Holmes Sports Center in Boston.
