NEWTON, Mass.—The Norwich University volleyball finished 1-1 on Saturday in the first day of Great Northeast Athletic Conference play, as the Cadets fell 3-0 to Simmons College in the tri-match opener and then downed the hosting Mustangs of Mount Ida College 3-0 in the second match.

Following today's action, the Cadets improve to 2-11 overall and 1-1 in GNAC play, while Simmons sits at 4-15 overall (3-1 GNAC) and the Mustangs fall to 3-14 overall (0-2 GNAC).

In the opener, Simmons bested the Cadets by scores of 25-16, 25-13, and 25-21. Norwich was led by Tara Lyons (Pocasset, Mass.) and Angie Hershberger (Felton, Calif.), who both paced the offense with eight kills apiece. Alex Palmer (South Windsor, Conn.) contributed seven kills and a team-high 14 digs, while setter Corinne Baita (Rochester, N.H.) dished out 21 assists.

Simmons was led by Megan Chamberlin with 14 kills. Three different members of the Sharks squad hit double figures in digs, as Morgan Kieon recorded 16 digs and Kat Guillotte and Alexandria Itasaka both contributed 13. Andalyn Duke totaled 21 assists on the afternoon.

In the nightcap, Norwich totaled 25 kills with just 10 errors and 47 digs to down Mount Ida by scores of 25-21, 25-18, and 25-23.

Kelsey Mancini (Lynnfield, Mass.) led the Cadets offense with seven kills. Lyons and Palmer both added six apiece, while Baita dished out 22 assists. Jennette Chartrand (Postenkill, N.Y.) led the defense with 10 digs.

Despite 30 kills, the Cadets forced Mount Ida into 31 attack errors. The Mustangs saw five kills apiece from Abbey Fedigan, Hillary Kostner and Katelyn Wickert. Setter Nicole Peixoto dished out 25 assists for Mount Ida, while Kelcey Koolman had a match-high 21 digs.

With today's win, Norwich snaps a seven-match slide. The Cadets will look for their second-straight win on Tuesday, Oct. 1 as the team travels to Lyndon State College for a 7:00 p.m. non-conference match. The Cadets will host a GNAC tri-match on Saturday, Oct. 5 featuring Lasell and the University of Saint Joseph as part of Norwich's Homecoming weekend.