BOSTON, Mass. - 14 kills powered senior Jules Augustine (Skaneateles, N.Y.) past the 1,000 kill milestone, but it was not enough as MIT battled back and took the 3-1 win over the Emerson women's volleyball team at Brown & Plofker Gym in NEWMAC action on Tuesday night.

Emerson took the first set, 25-21, but it was MIT who went on to grab the final three sets by the score of 25-21. MIT remains undefeated in NEWMAC play at 9-0 and moves to 25-4 overall, while Emerson falls to 16-10 overall and 2-7 in NEWMAC competition.

Emerson opened the first frame with a 8-6 lead over MIT before the Engineers answered with seven of the next nine points to take the 13-10 lead over the Lions. The Lions squared the set at 13-all on a service ace by sophomore Kelley Guerra (Randolph, N.J.) and tacked on four consecutive points to gain the 17-13 over the Engineers. After Emerson gained the seven point lead at 21-15, MIT tallied five more points to come within three at 24-21 on a kill by Megan Gebhard. The closest MIT would come to Emerson would be four as the Lions took the 25-21 first set on a service error committed by the Engineers.

To begin the second set, the Lions took a 7-5 lead over the Engineers and built onto their lead as they tallied four of the next five points to gain the 11-6 lead on an ace by Guerra. Emerson's six point lead began to diminish as MIT began to battle back with four points to come within two at 17-15 that was followed by a streak of three points to gain the 21-20 lead off a Lions attack error. Emerson tallied one more point in the set as MIT tallied the final three points to grab the 25-21 second set win on a kill by Abby Bertics. 

MIT took the 4-1 lead only to have Emerson battle back and square the third set at 5-all on a pair of kills from Augustine. Emerson held onto the 12-10 lead before MIT powered out four consecutive points to go up 14-12 before the Lions evened the score 14-all on a kill from Augustine. The Engineers answered with five points of their own to take four point lead over the Lions at 19-15. A kill by Carly Staub gave MIT their largest lead of five at at 23-18. Emerson got three points back to cut the lead down to three at 24-21, but MIT tallied the match point on a kill from Staub for the 25-21 win. 

Two ties occurred in the opening portions of the fourth set - once at nine and then 11 - yet Emerson never lost control of the lead despite MIT staying within reach and grabbed the 15-13 advantage. The Lions pieced together a streak of four points to take the 19-14 lead on an attack error committed by the Engineers. MIT crept back and powered out three points to gain its first lead of the set at 22-21 on a Lions attack error and batted out the final three points to take the 25-21 win. 

Augustine had a team-high 14 kills and had three block assists. Senior Amanda Linzmeyer (Huntington Beach, Calif.) followed with 10 kills, an ace and four digs, while sophomore Moira Brennan (Glenview, Ill.) had 37 helpers. Guerra led the Lions with four aces and senior Annie Hall (Okemos, Mich.) led the defensive with five block assists. Guerra also had five blocks. Junior Sam Harton (Cartersville, Ga.) powered out a team-high 21 digs and senior Jessica Hamilton (Los Angeles, Calif.) followed with 15 digs. 

Staub paced MIT with 14 kills as a trio of Engineers tallied nine kills each. Christina Laio had a match-high 49 assists and six aces, while Tori Wuthrich notched 21 digs. Alli Davanzo led the MIT defense with four blocks. 

Emerson returns to the court on Thursday in their final match of the 2016 season and will host Bridgewater State at 7:00 p.m., while MIT returns home to host Coast Guard at 1:00 p.m.