HENNIKER, N.H. – On Tuesday, November 11th, at 7:00 PM, the New England College women's volleyball team will attempt to do what no other team in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) has been able to do this season: Beat the Saints of Emmanuel College.
Emmanuel enters the GNAC postseason with an unblemished 13-0 record in conference play and a 27-1 record overall. They are winners of 22 straight games and locked up the top seed in the GNAC tournament. The Saints were ranked fifth in the NCAA's latest regional rankings. The Pilgrims bring a 6-7 conference record into the playoffs after having clinched their spot in the postseason on the final day of the regular season with a three-set win over Saint Joseph. This marks the third straight season the 'Grims have qualified for the GNAC tournament since joining the conference.
These two teams met early in the conference schedule on Friday, October 3rd, as Emmanuel brought a 14-1 record to Bridges Gym. The Pilgrims stunned the conference favorites, winning the first set, 25-17. The Saints rebounded, winning the next three sets, 25-19, 25-18, and 25-12, to remain perfect in conference play.
Emmanuel was led in that game by Letitia Bossou who was dominant with 18 kills. She had the second most kills in the conference during the regular season with 274. Her 3.01 kills per set was actually just second on the team behind Isabella Marquez, whose 3.34 kills per set ranked second in the GNAC. Marquez did not play against the 'Grims in their regular season matchup. Setter Kason Huynh did play, racking up 25 assists. She ranked fourth in the GNAC in both assists (680) and assists per set (7.39) this season.
In that Emmanuel matchup, junior Tyra Kelly (Fresno, Calif.) was the most dominant player at the net for the Pilgrims, tallying nine kills on an uber-efficient .563 hitting percentage and two blocks. She led the team during the season with 171 kills and 71 blocks. Her 71 blocks are already the third most in a single season in program history. In addition to Kelly, both junior Samantha Winters (Dover, N.H.) and sophomore LisaRaye Placencio (Maricopa, Ariz.) eclipsed the century mark this season with 135 and 109 kills, respectively.
NEC has relied on the duo of graduate Alexandra Seijas-Quea (Fort Myers, Fla.) and senior Aurora Gutierrez-Macias (El Paso, Tex.) as their primary setters this season. Seijas-Quea led the way with 300 assists this season, while Gutierrez-Macias accumulated 242. Both setters reached 1,000 career assists during the 2025 campaign and Gutierrez-Macias recently became the program's all-time assist leader.
Senior Kristina Cardello (Peabody, Mass.) led the Pilgrims with 20 digs against the Saints in October. Cardello will have her hands full with the Emmanuel attackers, but the senior has been up for the challenge all season long. Her 420 digs are just two behind the GNAC lead, and she sits third in digs per set with 4.47. One of the top liberos in the conference, she has had double-digit digs in 13 straight matches, and, earlier this season, she became the program's all-time digs leader.
It's an experienced group leading the Pilgrims into the Jean Yawkey Center in Boston, Massachusetts on Tuesday. They have taken sets from the Saints in each of their matches over the past three years and will look to replicate the success of their first set win against them earlier this season. The match will begin at 7:00 PM from the Jean Yawkey Center on the campus of Emmanuel College and can be streamed live here.
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