Box Score Waltham, Mass. - (9/4/2015) – With two matches on the docket today at the Bentley University Invitational, Chestnut Hill College is catching its collective breathe after a two-hour marathon versus the University of Minnesota–Crookston (UMC). The Golden Eagles edged the Griffins out in the opening set, 28-26, only for Chestnut Hill College to return the favor in the second set, 27-25. The third (25-14) and fourth sets (25-17) were then split in the same order, leading to a deciding set that saw the Griffins surrender a late 10-9 advantage to the Golden Eagles, 3-2 (28-26, 25-27, 25-14, 17-25, 15-12).
 
Chestnut Hill College (0-1) lead early in the opening set, establishing a 10-5 advantage on kills by sophomore middle hitter Samantha Gelfan (Chandler, Az.), freshman setter Kennedy Sutton (Chesapeake, Va.), senior outside hitter Rachel Biro (Nazareth, Pa.), junior outside hitter Madison McBride (Long Beach, Calif.), and a handful of Golden Eagle errors. From there, the University of Minnesota-Crookston (1-0) lagged a few points behind, first tying the frame at 23-23 and then out-executing the Griffins down the stretch for a 28-26 win, 1-0.
 
The Griffins led again in the second set, holding onto narrow advantage (17-15) before warding off a late Golden Eagle rally that tied the set at 25-25 only to fizzle out in a 27-25 Chestnut Hill College win, 1-1. Following an opening kill from junior middle hitter Emily Koehler (Bath, Pa.), UMC led the whole way in the third set to take a 2-1 lead before the Griffins evened the match once again with a comeback win in the fourth set (25-17), 2-2. In the deciding set, the Griffins and Golden Eagles went blow-for-blow, remaining tied as late as 10-10 and eventually ending the frame in UMC's favor 15-12, 3-2.
 
Senior outside hitter Stephanie Pearson (Frankfort, Ill.) led a trio for Golden Eagles who posted double-digit points with her 21.5 points coming off 17 kills, three aces, and three block assists. Junior setter Sierra Trost (Ham Lake, Minn.) offered 45 assists while five Golden Eagles recorded ten digs or more and sophomore right side Kelci Green (Anoka, Minn.) made five blocks in the team's ten-block performance.
 
Offensively, McBride was complimented by Gelfan (10 kills), and Koehler (nine kills and an ace), who all benefitted from 39 Griffin debut assists from Sutton. Junior libero Regina Trabosh (Norristown, Pa.) hustled to 29 digs, leading three others who made it to double-digit digs, including McBride who paired her team-high 13 kills with 21 digs.   

The women's volleyball team returns to the courts at the Bentley University Invitational later today, Friday, September 4, when they face the University of New Haven in a 4:00 p.m. match.