Posted: Nov 07, 2013
Fast Start Eludes Golden Bears in CCC Semifinal Loss at Top-Seed Roger Williams
BRISTOL, R.I.--Fifth-seeded Western New England jumped out to a fast start at nationally-ranked Roger Williams, but the Golden Bears couldn't sustain that momentum for the rest of the match in a 22-25, 25-9, 25-16, 25-20 loss to the top-seeded Hawks in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Semifinals on Thursday at the Campus Recreation Center. The Golden Bears fall to 22-9 on the season while the Hawks improve 29-3.
Carolyn Hajdusek had a team-high nine kills for Western New England, which hit .375 in the opening set compared to .211 for Roger Williams. Devyn Frank added six kills and Tyler Singh, five.
Freshman Jenna Leuck added 12 assists and nine digs for WNE, while CCC Libero of the Year Grace Kucharski had a team-high 16 digs and Kendra Ouimette made 11 digs.
"Our ultimate goal this season was to win our conference championship, so falling in the semifinals is disappointing," Western New Englanc coach Bret Stothart said. "This season we played some incredible volleyball at times and can be proud of posting a strong 22-9 record against a difficult schedule."
Krystie Luczynski paced the Hawks with 16 kills and .406 hitting, as the team finished with a .235 attack percentage while holding the Golden Bears to a .081 clip. Nicole Weber and Alexa Armenti handed out 25 and 15 assists, respectively. Darian Tredennick led all players with 19 digs.
The evening started well enough for the visitors who took a 10-3 lead to start the match by forcing the Hawks out of sync offensively. The Hawks would ultimately come back to tie the opening set at 13 and again at 15. However, the Golden Bears pulled away by using a 5-1 run to build a four-point advantage at 20-16. Hajdusek's kill clinch WNE's three-point win to go up 1-0 in the match.
Roger Williams, however, began to get its offense going in the second set and came out strong by taking three of the first four points. RWU then took a commanding 11-point advantage at 15-4 with a 12-3 run to never look back, winning by 16 points. Western New England's offense hit for a minus-.125 percentage while the Hawks went for .300.
In the third set, the Hawks opened with a 6-1 run that put WNE in a hole that was difficult for the Golden Bears to overcome.
The fourth set saw both team trade points early until the Hawks broke a 4-4 tie with a 9-3 run, leading to a WNE timeout. The Hawks eventually stretched its lead to eight, going up 22-14. The Golden Bears, however, didn't go down easily as they rolled off a 7-1 run to pull within three at 23-20. But, the Hawks were able to hold off the comeback bid with a kill by Elizabeth Flaherty for match point, followed by another kill by Brittany McMullen to finish off the match.
Roger Williams will be making its fifth straight appearance in the CCC title match, hosting Endicott--which upset Salve Regina in tonight's other semifinal match-up, 3-1--on Saturday at 1 p.m.
(Editor's note: Roger Williams University Athletic Communications contributed to this match recap.)
Carolyn Hajdusek had a team-high nine kills for Western New England, which hit .375 in the opening set compared to .211 for Roger Williams. Devyn Frank added six kills and Tyler Singh, five.
Freshman Jenna Leuck added 12 assists and nine digs for WNE, while CCC Libero of the Year Grace Kucharski had a team-high 16 digs and Kendra Ouimette made 11 digs.
"Our ultimate goal this season was to win our conference championship, so falling in the semifinals is disappointing," Western New Englanc coach Bret Stothart said. "This season we played some incredible volleyball at times and can be proud of posting a strong 22-9 record against a difficult schedule."
Krystie Luczynski paced the Hawks with 16 kills and .406 hitting, as the team finished with a .235 attack percentage while holding the Golden Bears to a .081 clip. Nicole Weber and Alexa Armenti handed out 25 and 15 assists, respectively. Darian Tredennick led all players with 19 digs.
The evening started well enough for the visitors who took a 10-3 lead to start the match by forcing the Hawks out of sync offensively. The Hawks would ultimately come back to tie the opening set at 13 and again at 15. However, the Golden Bears pulled away by using a 5-1 run to build a four-point advantage at 20-16. Hajdusek's kill clinch WNE's three-point win to go up 1-0 in the match.
Roger Williams, however, began to get its offense going in the second set and came out strong by taking three of the first four points. RWU then took a commanding 11-point advantage at 15-4 with a 12-3 run to never look back, winning by 16 points. Western New England's offense hit for a minus-.125 percentage while the Hawks went for .300.
In the third set, the Hawks opened with a 6-1 run that put WNE in a hole that was difficult for the Golden Bears to overcome.
The fourth set saw both team trade points early until the Hawks broke a 4-4 tie with a 9-3 run, leading to a WNE timeout. The Hawks eventually stretched its lead to eight, going up 22-14. The Golden Bears, however, didn't go down easily as they rolled off a 7-1 run to pull within three at 23-20. But, the Hawks were able to hold off the comeback bid with a kill by Elizabeth Flaherty for match point, followed by another kill by Brittany McMullen to finish off the match.
Roger Williams will be making its fifth straight appearance in the CCC title match, hosting Endicott--which upset Salve Regina in tonight's other semifinal match-up, 3-1--on Saturday at 1 p.m.
(Editor's note: Roger Williams University Athletic Communications contributed to this match recap.)
