Box Score NORTHAMPTON, Mass.--The Smith College volleyball team recorded their first postseason win for nine years with a 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 25-22) win over Framingham State University in the quarterfinals of the ECAC New England tournament on Wednesday night.

No. 4 seed Smith improves its record to 22-8, and will take on Salve Regina University in the semifinal round at Western New England University on Saturday at 11 a.m.  No. 5 seed Framingham State sees their season come to an end at 26-8.

Rosa Drummond (Rye, N.H./Portsmouth) went over 400 kills for the season with a 15 kill, six dig, effort, while Paige Sarlandt (Cloverdale, Calif./Cloverdale) hit .393 with 13 kills and three solo blocks.  Bethany Ashworth (North Falmouth, Mass./Bourne) ran the offense with 28 assists, while adding five digs and a service ace, and Julie Voorhes (Ramona, Calif./Ramona) had 26 digs.  Mei-Li Smith (Cypress, Calif./Cypress) was just shy of a triple-double with 10 kills, eight assists, and eight digs.

The first set was nip-and-tuck; the Rams turned a 6-5 advantage into a 16-11 lead that forced Smith into a timeout, but the Pioneers scored the next four points to get within 16-15.  A Smith attacking error pushed the Framingham State lead back to 18-15, but Smith scored six of the next nine points, punctuated by a Sonia Brown (Amherst, Mass./Amherst) service ace to tie the set at 21.  A setting error by the Rams put Smith up 25-24, but Smith returned the favor with a service error.  The Pioneers closed out the set with kills from Mei-Li Smith (Cypress, Calif./Cypress) and Paige Sarlandt (Cloverdale, Calif./Cloverdale).

Smith opened the second set with four straight points, but Framingham ran off the next five for an early 5-4 lead.  No team went up by more than two points until Smith went up 14-11 on the strength of two Drummond kills and a Framingham State attacking error.  The Rams tied the set at 20 with a Smith attacking error, but Smith finished out the set with five straight points, including a pair of service aces by Julie Voorhes (Ramona, Calif./Ramona).

Set three was similar in start to the first two, with no team leading by more than two until a Bethany Ashworth (North Falmouth, Mass./Bourne) service ace put the Pioneers up 13-10.  Framingham State scored five of the next eight to tie the set at 15, and upped that advantage to 22-19 when Girard sandwiched two kills around a service ace fron Julia Wan.  Smith slammed the door shut, scoring the final six points of the set, getting to match point on a kill by Sarlandt and a Framingham State attacking error finished the match.  

Andressa Fernandes and Annie DeLoid led Framingham State with eight kills each; Wan finished with 19 digs and Morgan Drew had 19 assists.

Smith and Salve Regina met once already this season, with the top-seeded Seahawks taking a 3-2 (25-19, 20-25, 25-22, 21-25, 13-15) decision on October 3.  The winner will meet the winner of the other semifinal, which features No. 2 seed Western New England and No. 3 seed Endicott in the championship match, which is slated for a 3 p.m. start.

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