COLLEGE NOTES

Lynch putting together impressive freshman campaign

The Cranston Herald ·

Cranston native Cianna Lynch has hit the ground running for the Salve Regina cross country team, posting some solid performances in her freshman campaign for the Seahawks.

The La Salle alumna made her debut for Salve on Sept. 3 at the Roger Williams Invitational, and immediately vaulted herself among her squad’s point-scoring runners by covering the five-kilometer course in 20 minutes, 49.72 seconds.

Lynch finished inside the top 20 that day, and her efforts helped the Seahawks claim the runner-up spot in the team competition.

After retaining her spot among the squad’s top five runners at meets hosted by UMass-Dartmouth and Williams later in September, Lynch made her breakthrough at the CCRI-hosted Tri-State Invitational on Oct. 1.

She finished the 3.15-mile journey in second place with a time of 20 minutes, 52.64 seconds, trailing teammate Victoria Varone by 21 seconds on a course that was muddy in places.

Lynch’s effort was part of a dominant performance by the Salve harriers, who claimed a clean sweep of the top four places en route to a victory for the Seahawks in the team event for the second time in the last three seasons.

The former Ram was back in action last Saturday at the Connecticut College Invitational, and while she may have finished in 85th place in a field of 250 runners, her time of 24 minutes, 6.9 seconds ended up being a personal best over six kilometers.

All five scoring runners landed inside the top 100 for the Seahawks, who finished in eighth place among the 21-team field.

Next up for Lynch and her Salve teammates is the Commonwealth Coast Conference championship on Oct. 29, a meet in which the Seahawks have finished inside the top three every year since 2009.

Lambrese playing a main roll for Anchorwomen

Cranston West graduate Courtney Lambrese has been an ever-present fixture for the Rhode Island College volleyball team, appearing in all 19 matches to date for the Anchorwomen this fall.

She has shown no let-up in her performances on the court, racking up 178 kills and 15 service aces for a team that is currently hovering around the .500 mark.

Twenty of those kills came in RIC’s four-set win over Mount Holyoke on Oct. 1, the second time the Anchorwomen defeated the Lyons in a three-week span.

Lambrese has also chipped in with 105 digs and 14 blocks, which both are good for fifth on the Anchorwomen.

It was a mixed bag for RIC on Saturday, first knocking off Worcester Polytechnic Institute in four sets before dropping a five-set heartbreaker to Trinity despite Lambrese recording 11 kills and the same number of digs against the Bantams.

A three-game week now beckons for the 9-10 Anchorwomen, first traveling up north to play UMass-Boston on Tuesday before hosting Johnson & Wales and Plymouth State on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.