Boston College
22-13,7-11ACC
Xavier University
21-12,11-7Big East
BC Wins Five Set Thriller To Advance to NIVC Semifinals
December 07, 2022 | Volleyball
Chestnut Hill, Mass – Boston College defeated Xavier 3-2 on Wednesday evening, the Eagles won by scores of 25-22, 25-18 and 15-10. BC improves their record to 22-13 on the season and Xavier finishes their season 21-12 overall and 11-7 in conference play.
After the Musketeers took set one, BC knew that they had to respond in set two to avoid going down 0-2 in the match. And respond they would, after back and forth points between the two sides to make it 11-12, the Eagles rattled off an impressive 8-1 scoring run, including three big kills from Senior right side Izzy Clavenna (Dallas, Texas) to tie up the match 1-1.
Xavier would go on to once again take the match lead in set three, and BC's season looked to be on the line in set four when they went down 9-4 early on. But they would rally once again to come from behind and force a fifth set. The key moment of set four came on a wild 11-3 scoring run from BC highlighted by back to back aces from Senior outside hitter Silvia Ianeselli (Trento, Italy) and some big kills from Sophomore middle blocker Julia Haggerty (Lafayette, Calif).
While it was anybody's match for the taking as it always is in a set five, you could almost certainly feel the energy shift on the court in the Eagles favor heading into the final set. Boston College would go on to take a commanding 12-6 lead before finally winning the match 15-10 off another match clinching kill from Julia Haggerty.
It was once again the Seniors who carried BC to victory in this one, Silvia Ianeselli had maybe her best performance of the season going for a season-high 15 kills to go along with 16 digs and two service aces for her third double-double of the season and fellow Senior Izzy Clavenna poured on 14 kills on a .313 hitting percentage as well. Junior outside hitter Alayna Crabtree (Normal, Ill) also had one of her best matches of the season, she tallied 14 kills on a .324 hitting percentage to go along with a career-high 17 digs for her sixth double-double of the season. Junior libero Anna Murphy (Zionsville, Ind) continued to anchor the defense with a game-high 22 digs and added eight assists and Junior setter Grace Penn (Manhattan Beach, Calif) dished out 36 assists.
BC Volleyball will be back again on Saturday at 4 p.m for a match against Southern Miss as they host the NIVC Semifinal.
