By Laura Soukkavong –
WALTHAM, Mass. — For WPI, Saturday at the Brandeis Invitational was an afternoon that offered two very different results and perhaps one encouraging lesson. The Engineers showed how dangerous they can be when their offense is operating efficiently, then showed how stubborn they can be when a match appears to be slipping away.
WPI opened the day by sweeping Wentworth, 25-14, 25-22, 26-24, behind one of its most efficient offensive performances of the young season. Hours later, the Engineers fell behind Williams by two sets, fought back to win the third and came within two points of forcing a deciding fifth before losing the fourth, 27-25.
The split left WPI at 1-3, but the record alone does not capture everything that happened Saturday. Bridget Spees totaled 24 kills across the two matches, while the Engineers combined a dominant performance against Wentworth with a determined comeback attempt against Williams.
Against Wentworth, WPI didn’t merely win three sets. The Engineers controlled the match offensively, hitting .352 while holding the Leopards to a .067 attack percentage, a considerable difference that showed itself throughout the afternoon’s opening contest.
Bridget Spees was at the center of it. She finished with a match-high 13 kills while hitting .522, adding eight digs and two service aces in a performance that gave WPI production both at the net and behind the service line.
She wasn’t alone. Olivia Hutchinson contributed eight kills on .429 hitting and six blocks, while Zeala VanDamme added seven kills with a .417 attack percentage and three block assists.
Niki Szavuly supplied six kills, six digs and a team-high three service aces. Anastasia Kelnik added four kills without committing an attack error and contributed four block assists, giving WPI another efficient option around the net.
Behind all of that offense was Amelia Lynch, who distributed 33 assists while adding three digs and three total blocks. WPI’s .352 team hitting percentage reflected an offense that wasn’t relying upon a single attacker to carry the match.
Wentworth received seven kills apiece from Savannah Morford and Emma Sanders, with Ava Rocchio adding six. Olivia Vaughn distributed 19 assists, while Sarah Vaness collected a match-high 12 digs.
The opening set established the direction quickly. After the teams were tied 2-2, WPI tore through a 14-3 run that created a 16-5 advantage and forced Wentworth to spend the rest of the set trying to recover.
Bridget Spees delivered two service aces during that stretch, while Olivia Hutchinson, Zeala VanDamme and Anastasia Kelnik helped WPI control the action at the net. The Engineers hit .389 in the opening frame, and Spees finished it with a kill for a convincing 25-14 victory.
The second set required WPI to handle a different kind of challenge. The Engineers built advantages of 8-3 and 15-8, but Wentworth refused to disappear and eventually cut the margin to 22-20.
Zeala VanDamme responded with a kill when WPI needed to interrupt the comeback. After Wentworth pulled within 23-21, Bridget Spees and Anastasia Kelnik delivered kills to finish a 25-22 victory.
The numbers from that second set were even better than those from the first. WPI produced 16 kills and hit .429, demonstrating the kind of offensive efficiency that made it difficult for Wentworth to sustain enough pressure to completely erase the deficit.
The third set was different. WPI raced ahead 7-1, but Wentworth fought all the way back and eventually moved in front 21-18, putting the Engineers in danger of allowing the match to extend into a fourth set.
WPI responded instead of unraveling. Anastasia Kelnik and Olivia Hutchinson combined on a block that eventually helped the Engineers pull even at 23-23, and after the teams exchanged the next two points, Hutchinson delivered a kill for a 25-24 advantage.
Maura Oslosky then ended it from the service line. Her match-clinching ace gave WPI a 26-24 victory, completing a three-set sweep and sending the Engineers into their second match with their first victory of the season.
Williams provided a considerably different test. WPI’s offense was no longer dictating the match with the same efficiency, and the Engineers quickly found themselves having to play from behind.
Bridget Spees again led WPI with 11 kills on .310 hitting and nine digs. Julia Colantuoni contributed six kills while hitting .313 and added two service aces, while Amelia Lynch finished with 27 assists, five block assists and six digs.
Jennah DiMartino provided WPI’s defensive foundation with a match-high 19 digs and also recorded two service aces. The Engineers needed that defensive work against a Williams attack that featured several highly efficient performances.
Keely Campuzano led Williams with 11 kills while hitting .500. Clara Massey was even more efficient, recording seven kills on .778 hitting while contributing six total blocks, and Chidimma Obi added eight kills.
Kate Lane finished with seven kills, while Williams received production from two setters. Emily Cao recorded 21 assists, four service aces and 10 digs, and Lilly Carstens added 24 assists.
WPI actually held an early 7-6 advantage in the first set, but Williams changed the match with a 10-2 stretch. Suddenly the Engineers were behind 16-9, and although they managed to cut the deficit to 18-14, Williams maintained control and closed out a 25-17 victory.
The Engineers again started well in the second set, moving ahead 6-3. Williams erased that advantage, tied the set at 7-7 and later used a five-point run to move in front 12-8.
WPI stayed close enough to threaten at 17-13, but Williams finished with an 8-3 run to win 25-16. The Engineers were suddenly down two sets, and the afternoon appeared to be moving rapidly toward a straight-set Williams victory.
What happened next revealed something about WPI that the final match result should not obscure. The Engineers were down 22-16 in the third set and had every opportunity to allow the match to simply reach its conclusion.
Instead, they fought their way back. WPI cut the deficit to 22-21, watched Williams briefly restore a two-point advantage and then produced the closing surge that kept the match alive.
Niki Szavuly, Kylie Welcher, Phia Fisher and Julia Colantuoni contributed kills during the comeback, while Abigail Malone supplied a service ace. WPI scored the final four points and stole the set, 25-23.
That third-set comeback changed the nature of the match. Williams was no longer cruising toward a sweep, and WPI entered the fourth with an opportunity to force a fifth set despite having spent much of the nightcap playing from behind.
Again, the Engineers had to chase. Williams led 22-18 late in the fourth, leaving WPI only three points from elimination and requiring another comeback if the match was going to continue.
Again, WPI responded. The Engineers ripped off a 6-1 run, with consecutive Bridget Spees kills completing the surge and giving WPI set point at 24-23.
Williams tied the set, but Bridget Spees struck again to put WPI ahead 25-24. The Engineers were one point from forcing a deciding fifth set after having trailed by six late in the third and by four late in the fourth.
That final point never came. Williams scored the last three points, with Keely Campuzano delivering a kill before Kate Lane finished the match with a service ace for a 27-25 victory.
For WPI, the difference between extending the match and losing it was painfully small. The Engineers had climbed out of another late deficit and reached set point twice, but Williams found the final three points when the match was most vulnerable.
There is significance in the way WPI reached that position. After losing the opening sets 25-17 and 25-16, the Engineers could have disappeared quietly from the match, but instead they turned the third and fourth sets into the most competitive portions of the nightcap.
Saturday therefore offered WPI two different measures of its early-season development. Against Wentworth, the Engineers showed what they can look like when their offense is efficient from beginning to end. Against Williams, they showed they can remain competitive after losing control of a match.
Bridget Spees was the common thread. Her 24 kills across the two matches provided WPI with consistent production, whether the Engineers were controlling Wentworth or desperately trying to extend the match against Williams.
The challenge now is turning those stretches into greater consistency. WPI was efficient enough to sweep Wentworth and resilient enough to threaten Williams, but at 1-3 the Engineers are still searching for a way to make those qualities coexist throughout an entire match.
There is plenty of season left to solve that problem. WPI returns to action Friday at 6 p.m. when the Engineers travel to UMass Dartmouth, while Wentworth travels to North Park on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. match and Williams hosts Skidmore on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
WPI leaves the Brandeis Invitational with a split, but Saturday was more revealing than one victory and one defeat. The Engineers demonstrated how efficiently they can play when everything is working, and later demonstrated how difficult they can be to finish when almost nothing is.
The next step is bringing those two versions of WPI together.
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