
WENHAM, Mass. – The fourth-seeded Suffolk volleyball team dropped a heartbreaker in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Semifinals, falling to top-seed Gordon in five sets inside the Bennett Center Thursday night. The Rams season came to an end via set scores 25-14, 23-25, 25-21, 23-25 and 15-12.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 2 | Gordon 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (20-10) | Gordon (16-13)
SET ONE RECAP (25-14, GORDON)
- Gordon grabbed an 11-4 lead that forced Suffolk into a timeout early.
- The Fighting Scots continued to surge ahead, 16-6, and Scott Blanchard his second timeout of the frame.
- The huddle did not pay off for the blue-and-gold as it was unable to get a run going and the host went ahead to take the frame, 25-14.
SET TWO RECAP (25-23, SUFFOLK)
- Down 5-1, Jasmine James took matters into her own hands, rattled off three kills in a row and combined with McKenna Keowen for a block to lock the set at 5-all.
- The stanza would level three more times, the last coming at 13-all, before Gordon took an 18-14 edge that turned into a 22-19 gap down the stretch.
- Three straight Fighting Scot attack errors allowed the blue-and-gold back into the thick of it and even matters at 22-22.
- The set would lock once more at 23-all, before a Gordon service error turned on set point for the Rams and Chloe Clement would seal the set for Suffolk.
SET THREE RECAP (25-21, GORDON)
- Suffolk jumped ahead 7-1.
- The Fighting Scots fought back and trimmed the Rams advantage down to one, 9-8.
- A back-and-forth battled allowed the blue-and-gold to remain in front, 17-14.
- Gordon strung together six straight points to flip the script in its favor, 20-17.
- The playing field was nearly the rest of the way and that slim edge the host gained proved to be enough.
SET FOUR RECAP (25-23, SUFFOLK)
- Down 19-12, Suffolk battled back a 6-1 run to chip down the deficit to two, 20-18.
- After the Fighting Scots regained a three-point margin, the Rams rattled off a 7-2 stretch to claim the frame, 25-23.
SET FIVE RECAP (15-12, GORDON)
- Suffolk trailed early, 5-1.
- Blanchard brought his team in a huddle and it helped as the Rams scored four straight out of the break to equalize the set at 5-all.
- The Fighting Scots captured an 11-7 advantage.
- The Rams had to play catchup again and did behind a 4-1 rally to make it 12-11 Gordon.
- Suffolk hung around and kept the distance at one, 13-12, before the Fighting Scots coupled back-to-back points together to clinch the match.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Keowen registered 13 kills, nine digs, four blocks, two aces and one dig.
- Grace Cervenka notched 12 kills and four blocks.
- James finished with 10 kills, two digs, two blocks and one assist.
- Clement chipped in nine kills, four digs and two blocks.
- Harmony Johnson had a 38-assist, 10-dig double-double to go along with one block and one ace.
- Kenzley Bell looged 23 digs, four assists, three aces and one kill.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk competed it the CCC semifinals for the first time.
- The Rams played in a conference semi for the third time in program history, first since 2019.
- Suffolk went to five sets in the conference semifinals for the first time.
- The Rams went to the fifth and deciding set for the second straight postseason match and third time in postseason in program history.
- Suffolk and Gordon competed in the conference postseason for the first time.
- The Rams and Fighting Scots went to five sets for the third time in program history, first since Sept. 21, 2017.
- Johnson became the first player in Suffolk volleyball history to hand out 2,000 assists in her collegiate career. She accomplished the feat with her 16th assist of the match.
- Johnson capped off her collegiate career atop Suffolk's all-time assists list with 2,022 handouts.
- Johnson put together her second straight double-double, 12th of her collegiate career and fifth of the season.
- Bell wrapped up her collegiate career second on Suffolk's all-time digs list with 1,101 digs.
- Keowen logged a personal-best four blocks.