WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The University of Southern Maine women's volleyball dropped two matches Saturday falling Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham, 3-2, and Wellesley College, 3-0, in non-conference play at Wellesley's Keohane Sports Center.

            The Huskies have dropped their last four matches fall to 15-11 overall.  FDU-Florham, which lost the opening match against Wellesley 3-0, is 15-16 after the split.  Wellesley raised its record to 13-7.

            In the Huskies' first match against FDU-Florham, the Huskies twice took a one-set lead before the Devils came from behind to take the win.  The Huskies won the opening set 25-21 followed by the Devils taking a 25-23 decision in the second to tie the match.  The Huskies grabbed a 2-1 lead with their 25-19 win in the third set, but the Devils took the final two sets, 25-17 and 15-8, to win the match.

            Freshman outside hitter Jessica Williamson (Goffstown, N.H.) and sophomore setter Megan Nilson (Granby, Conn.) each had a double-double for the Huskies.  Williamson earned her 14th double-double of the season with 25 kills and 13 digs while Nilson had her sixth double-double with 34 assists and 10 digs.  Williamson made 70 attacks during the match, the second highest five-set total in school history.

            Junior libero Demi Ruder (Grand Junction, Colo./Central) dug up a team-high 27 balls and junior Renee Trottier (Biddeford, Maine) had 25 digs and six kills.  Ruder, who recently became the third USM player to go over 1,000 digs for her career, went over the 300-digs plateau for the third straight season.

            Freshman Melissa Gaffney (League City, Texas) paced the Devils with a double-double of her own on 21 kills and 14 digs.  Classmate Natalie Knudsen (Chester, N.J.) added 11 kills.  Rookie setter Codi Inloes-Williams (Palmer Lake, Colo.) passed out 39 assists, and freshman Rachel Catena (Flemington, N.J.) had a match-high 32 digs.

            Wellesley defeated USM in straight sets, 25-11, 25-14, and 25-19, in the final match of the day.  Senior outside hitter Sydney Carfagno (Los Angeles, Calif.) led the offense with 13 kills, five assists and a .500 attack percentage (13-1-24).  Sophomore Maddie Koh (Seattle, Wash.) quarterbacked the Blue with 33 assists, and sophomore Brooke Fieldman (Greenwood Village, Colo.) had a match-high 17 digs.  The Blue served up 17 aces in the match as Fieldman and Koh led the way with four apiece.

            Williamson added 11 kills and eight digs to lead the Huskies in both categories.  Nilson had 17 assists, and rookie Monica Raymond (Sanbornton, N.H.) contributed five kills.

            Southern Maine is off until off until next Saturday (October 25) when it travels to Rhode Island College for a Little East Conference match.  Wellesley hosts Smith College on Tuesday (7:00 p.m.) for a NEWMAC match.  FDU-Florham travels to Delaware Valley College on Tuesday (7:00 p.m.). 

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