THE BASICS 

Score: Emerson 3, MIT 2

Records: Emerson Lions (19-7 ; 7-4 NEWMAC) ; MIT Engineers (24-7, 8-3 NEWMAC)

Location: Boston, Mass. (Rotch Field)

Date: November 5th, 2019

Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Rockwell Cage)

Date: Tuesday, November 5, 2019 

The Lead: The Emerson Lions' Women's Volleyball Team played in their first NEWMAC Postseason contest on Tuesday night.  The Lions took down the No. 3 seeded MIT Engineers in five sets, rallying from a 2-0 deficit behind 23 kills from junior Grace Tepper (Kensington, Md.)

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

Emerson

Grace Tepper - 23 Kills, 4 Digs, 3 Blocks

Albany Alexander - 13 Kills, 2 Digs, 2 Blocks

Caroline Bond - 41 Assists, 15 Digs, 6 Kills

MIT

Alexis Groark - 22 Kills, 3 Digs

Andie Maloney - 52 Assists, 10 Digs

Emily Condon - 10 Kills, 4 Blocks

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first set opened with both teams trading points early and ending up knotted at 7 after 14 points.  The teams continued to trade points until MIT was able to open up a three point lead at 15-12.  Emerson was able to cut the lead back down to one at 17-16 through a kill by Logan Steenbergen (Glenview, Ill.).  MIT closed out the set on an 8-1 run, taking the first set 25-17.
• The second set opened up with MIT winning seven of the first 10 points and forcing Emerson into an early timeout.  The time worked well, as Emerson went on a 5-0 run post timeout to take an 8-7 lead, with MIT taking their first timeout of the set.  Outside of the timeout, the Lions continued their strong play with a 9-5 run of their own, extending their lead to five at 17-12, and forcing MIT into their second timeout of the set.  Out of the timeout, MIT went on a 6-3 run to cut the lead to two at 20-18, with Emerson calling their second timeout.  MIT closed out the set on a 7-1 run, taking the second set 25-21.
• The third set sat Emerson jump out to a 6-2 lead behind kills from Tepper, Albany Alexander (Orlando, Fla.), Caroline Bond (Macungie, Penn.), and  Carolyn Vaimoso (Torrance, Calif.).  MIT cut the lead back to three at 9-6 but the Lions were able to extend it back to five behind two more kills from Tepper at 13-8.  The Lions held their five-point lead for most of the set, eventually building on the lead to bring it to 22-16 on an attack error by the Engineers. One more Tepper kill and two errors by the Engineers gave the Lions the victory in the third set, cutting th4 lead to 2-1 heading into the fourth set.  
• The fourth set was once again hilly contested, but the Lions held a lead throughout most of the set.  After opening up a 4-2 lead they fell behind 6-4.  A quick timeout from Emerson had them take the lead at 8-7.  The Lions built their lead to 16-11 on kills from Vaimoso and Tepper.  MIT cute the lead to three and eventually one at 23-22.  The Lions took two of the next three points to win the set on a kill by Alexander, knotting the score at two each.
• The fifth set was close at the start, with the teams splitting the first 10 points in the set to 15.  Emerson went on a 10-6 run from here, backed by kills from Vaimoso, Alexander, and Rebecca Polsky (Boca Raton, Fla.).  Emerson took the fifth set 15-11 to take the victory in their first-ever NEWMAC postseason match.

UP NEXT

• Emerson gets back in action on Thursday when they travel to take on the No. 2 seed Wellesley Blue at 7:00pm in Wellesley, Mass.