Suffolk University volleyball fought for their win over Johnson & Wales University, marking their first back-to-back victories against the Wildcats in program history. After breaking a 27 game losing streak against last season, Suffolk has now increased their all-time record to 3-28, giving the Wildcats a warm welcome to the CNE during their first conference match up.
The two teams were neck in neck all four sets, but the result was a home court win and a record breaking night for junior setter Aislinn Lanigan who reached 1,000 assists.
The Rams started the first set off behind, letting Johnson & Wales take a running lead, they came back with a motivating rush and stole the first set 25-22. Libero Kathy Mo’s 21 total digs were a big part of sealing the deal.
The second set started off similarly, the Rams and Wildcats steadily trading the lead until the Providence team built up a 16-11 lead, until four unanswered points caused a Johnson & Wales timeout. After their run, the two teams battled again for the final score until Suffolk was down 20-23, where they took their own timeout.
It was during the two minute break that the announcers applauded Lanigan for her 1,000 assists, only adding more success to the team after senior middle blocker Grace Cervenka had just surpassed 500 kills. Cervenka added another 11 to her career total by the end of the game.
Johnson & Wales tied the game winning the second set 25-20.
Suffolk had their first strong start during the third set, getting four unanswered points. The Wildcats replied with five of their own bringing them to their first lead of the set at 5-4.
Suffolk trailed behind for most of the set until a catch up that caused a Johnson & Wales timeout at 19-19. The Rams took their own timeout while down 23-22, but a dig from senior outside hitter Chloe Clement gave the team the momentum to take the set 26-24.
If the matchup hadn’t looked competitive before, the fourth set made it clear. Suffolk and Johnson & Wales traded runs until the Rams got a lead and caused the opponent to take a timeout. A pause in the game followed a couple points later as the position of players was questioned and confirmed between a referee and Wildcat coach Michael Houlihan.
The confusion was followed by a let up of two points bringing Suffolk 2-1 in set wins, to a 20-16 lead.
The set’s end was again a battle that turned into an over 25 point win. Johnson & Wales pushed for a fifth set but ultimately Suffolk took it home 28-26, marking their last win before a tournament in Pennsylvania.
Suffolk head coach Scott Blanchard gave some of the win’s credit to serving and defense practices the day before.
“We’ve been working really hard on our defense and serving and passing, and we knew that Johnson & Wales likes to run stuff very fast,” said Blanchard. “We knew that if we could get them out of a system that they would make mistakes and that we would be able to capitalize on off speed shots and stuff like that.”
With a little less than half a season under their belt as teammates, the young 2025-2026 roster has had time to play and practice with each other.
“I honestly never thought I would make it to a thousand, but I think this year with the team and all of the people coming up, half the time is brand new,” said Lanigan. “We all just met each other, and I think the chemistry together… yeah it helped.”
A big part of last season’s playoff run was the senior class, all who have graduated past Suffolk and left a space to fill.
“We have 21 kids on the team, 10 of them are brand new,” said Blanchard. “We have freshmen that are out there and we have some transfers, and we’re just still trying to put it all together.”
Other crucial players in the game were junior outside and right side hitter Emily Norgrove with 14 kills, junior Mackenzie Heaney with 12 digs and freshman middle blocker Emmy Thomander with eight kills.
“I could not have gotten to a thousand assists without my teammates,” said Lanigan.
With the sixth win of the season and a couple of losses during their Sept. 26 weekend tournament, Suffolk sits fifth in the Conference of New England.
