NORTON, Mass. – The 2015 volleyball season came to an end for Wheaton College and Smith College on Saturday afternoon in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action in Emerson Gymnasium with the Pioneers earning a 3-1 (17-25, 25-12, 26-24, 28-26) win over the Lyons. 

Wheaton ends the season with a 12-16 overall record and 3-7 conference standing. Smith finishes 6-22 overall and 2-8 in the NEWMAC. 

Senior Taylor Matook finished with a match-high 13 kills for the Lyons, hitting .379 on the day. Senior Deirdre Wilson earned a match-high 29 assists and team-high 20 digs for Wheaton. Claire Cansier collected a team-high three blocks, while Matook finished with two.

Macarena Rojas (Maipu, Santiago, Chile/Liceo No. 1 Javiera Carrera) led the Pioneers with 11 kills, while Mei-Li Smith (Cypress, Calif./Cypress) finished with eight. Smith earned 12 assists in the win, while Rojas dished out 10. Jenna Rubin (Norfolk, Conn./Suffield Academy) led all players with a match-high four blocks.

Wheaton started the match strong, jumping ahead to an 8-2 lead in the opening set with kills from Kendall Jacobs, Matook, Wilson, Elise Waelder and Arieanne Creighton.  An ace by Waelder gave the Lyons their largest lead of the set at 16-6. Smith earned a few points back down the stretch, but three consecutive Pioneer errors closed out the win for the Lyons. 

The second set was the complete opposite of the first, with Smith controlling nearly every aspect of the contest. With the set tied at 4-4 the Pioneers tallied four unanswered points with kills from Smith and Elizabeth Peay (Lebanon, Conn./Lyman Memorial) and two Lyon errors. With a 14-11 lead, the Pioneers put on a show, closing out the set on an impressive 11-1 run with Xeia Miller on the serve. 

Smith earned an early 3-0 lead in the third set, before Wheaton took the lead on four straight points. Down 12-11, the Lyons rattled off six points to take their largest lead of the set at 17-12. Smith slowly chipped away at the deficit, tying the set a 21-21, before taking the lead on an ace by Rojas. Two attacking errors by Smith and a kill by Wilson gave the lead back to Wheaton at 24-23, but the advantage would be short lived. Rojas tied the set at 24 all moments later with a kill, which was followed up by an ace by Tamaki Sakura and a kill by Smith, earning the Pioneers the set.

The fourth set was another back and forth battle that saw the score tied seven times and possession of the lead exchanged eight times. During the course of the set, Smith accumulated a 24-21 advantage, which was promptly countered with a 4-0 run by Wheaton. Rojas tied the set at 25-25, before an ace by Miller gave the lead back to the Pioneers. A kill by Matook tied the set for the final time, before back-to-back errors by the Lyons handed the Pioneers the victory. 

(Recap courtesy Wheaton athletics)