Sept. 8, 2007

Box Score

Brooklyn Heights, NY - The Wagner Seahawks' volleyball team swept a pair of matches from St. Francis (NY) to move to 2-1 on the season while the Terriers remain winless at 0-11.

In the first match, the Green &White took game one 30-17. St. Francis (NY) responded with a 30-27 win in game two. With the score tied at 1-1, Wagner won a thriller in game three 33-31 before taking the match with a 30-25 win in game four. The second match was not nearly as tough for the Green & White as they routed the Terriers by scores of 30-20, 30-23 and 30-14.

Tied at one game apiece in the crucial third game, Wagner found themselves down 26-21, but responded with a 6-1 spurt, highlighted by Ashley Pepper's (Fr., Washington Court House, OH / Washington Senior) kill that tied the score at 27-27. St. Francis (NY) then retook the lead at 31-30, but Wagner was too much scoring the final three points to win 33-31. The Seahawks iced the match with a 30-25 game four win. Sophomore Jess Troiano (Chester, NY / Monroe-Woodbury) led Wagner with a career-high 10 kills and a .286 hitting percentage. Classmate Alex Klein (Cresent Springs, KY / Notre Dame Academy) added eight kills, on .231 hitting, with 10 digs while fellow sophomore Gabi Hilk (Wilmington, DE / Alexis I. DuPont) had 34 assists and a career-best seven aces to lead the offense. Freshman Jennifer Lechman (Effingham, IL / Effingham) led the defense with a 13 digs.

As a team Wagner out-hit St. Francis (NY) .144-.102 and were aided by 18 service aces compared to just nine for the Terriers.

Wagner rolled in the second match with a dominating offensive performance that saw the Seahawks hit a season-best .277 compared to -.029 for St. Francis (NY). Pepper led the way with eight kills on .280 hitting while Hilk added 19 assists. Lechman had 15 digs and Klein recorded 13 to round out the double-figure performers.

Lost in the offensive fireworks was the play of senior co-captains Sarah Garrette (Barrington, IL / Barrington) and Kelly Kasper (West Windsor, NJ / Windsor Plainsboro South). Garrette recorded 14 kills on .265 hitting and had four blocks on the day while Kasper had 11 kills on a team-best .421 hitting.

Wagner is now over .500 for the first time in Kevin Papa's five-year tenure.

Wagner returns to action with a match at Lehigh on Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 7:00 pm.