Posted: Nov 16, 2013
Western New England Repeats ECAC New England Championship
SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--The Western New England University women's volleyball team is the Eastern College Athletic Conference New England champion again. The Golden Bears become the second women's sport at WNE (ECAC lacrosse crowns in 2008-09) to earn back-to-back postseason titles.
The Golden Bears capped the season with a 25-9 record after sweeping Commonwealth Coast Conference rival Endicott College, 26-24, 25-13, 26-24, in the ECAC New England Semifinals and then prevailing over Smith College in a five-set thriller, 25-20, 25-14, 19-25, 18-25, 15-6, in the championship match on Saturday at the Alumni Healthful Living Center.
"I'm so happy for all our players and especially our seniors to finish the season with a victory. We played really well throughout the entire tournament against a difficult field and had a lot of fun along the way," Western New England third-year coach Bret Stothart said. "Winning back-to-back ECAC Championships is a difficult challenge but we did it together as a team, and it is something we will remember for many years to come."
Smith finishes the year 23-9 for its most wins since 2005. The Pioneers were seeking their first ECAC title since 1997, and were also runner-up in 1989.
Junior Kasey Cameron recorded her third double-double of 2013 with a match-best 14 kills (.243 hitting) and 14 digs while accounting for 16-1/2 of the team's 79 points against the Pioneers, earning tournament Most Outstanding Player honors. Two of her three double-doubles this fall have come against Smith.
Western New England also got strong offensive performances from seniors Tyler Singh (14 kills, .321), Devyn Frank (10, .194) and junior Carolyn Hajdusek (10, .261). In addition, freshman setter Jessica Sincero established a career-high 36 assists and fellow first-year Jenna Leuck added 18.
Mei-Li Smith and Kristi Hammond both posted double-doubles. Smith had 11 kills and 14 digs and Hammond had 10 kills and 17 digs. Rosa Drummond, one of Smith's five seniors playing in her final collegiate match, had 13 kills, while another senior, Bethany Ashworth, had 33 assists.
The Golden Bears jumped out to a two-sets-to-none lead over the Pioneers by outhitting them .212 and .400 to .114 and .179.
Smith's spirited comeback attempt started in the third with defense and smart play, while limiting WNE to .103 hitting for the next two sets. The Pioneers led wire-to-wire to cut the deficit to 2-1.
After losing the fourth set to even the match at 2, a re-energized WNE offense came out on fire in the decisive fifth stanza. The Golden Bears hit for a .333 clip while holding Smith to .083, getting three kills from Singh. Western New England never trailed after jumping out to a 5-1 lead and then scoring the match's last six points that included three service aces from Sincero.
Earlier in the day, second-seeded WNE swept No. 3 Endicott behind Hajdusek's 10 kills and .429 hitting.
Sincero added seven kills (.267), 17 assists, three aces, six digs and three total blocks. Singh contributed seven kills and three total blocks, Frank (.267, 3 blocks) and Cameron (.261, 8 digs) each had six kills, and junior Grace Kucharski had a match-high 20 digs for a total of 59 in 11 sets during the tournament.
Callie Dolan led the Gulls (23-16) with 11 kills (.214) and Erika Trudon had 12 digs.
The first set featured 15 ties and five lead changes. With neither team gaining more than a three-point lead, WNE fought off a set point with a Singh kill down the middle to tie it 24-all. After an EC attack error that gave WNE a 25-24 lead, the Gulls called a timeout before Hajdusek finished it with a kill.
The second stanza saw WNE never trail while hitting .321 on 12 kills with only three errors in 28 swings. Endicott hit just .094.
The Golden Bears' defense stepped up in the third set that mirrored the first at 26-24, limiting the Gulls to .000 offensively.
Western New England jumped out to leads 8-2 and 14-8 before Endicott eventually went ahead 19-18 on a Jackie Cone service ace.
Coach Stothart called a timeout to settle his team and the Golden Bears responded with consecutive points to reclaim the lead at 20-19. Hajdusek followed a Gull attack error with a kill from Kelsey Armstrong.
The Golden Bears fell behind 22-20 after two straight hitting miscues and a service ace from Trudon.
On the next point, the Gulls committed another attack error and Frank nailed a kill to pull WNE to a 22-22 draw that caused Endicott to call timeout.
The teams then traded the next four points before WNE clinched the victory on back-to-back kills from Frank and Singh.
ECAC Semifinal #1: No. 4 Smith def. No. 1 Salve Regina 25-19, 25-22, 25-17
Earlier in the day, Smith turned the tables on top-seeded Salve Regina University and shocked the Seahawks in a sweep to advance to the ECAC title match.
Smith had lost to Salve Regina three-sets-to-two back on Oct. 3, but turned in a dominating performance by limiting Salve to just .028 hitting for the match.
Paige Sarlandt, Hammond, and Drummond led Smith with eight kills apiece.
Clare Adams led SRU with nine kills and 16 digs, and Katelyn Beauregard and Emily Lipinski added seven kills apiece.
The Seahawks end their season with a 26-5 record.
The Golden Bears capped the season with a 25-9 record after sweeping Commonwealth Coast Conference rival Endicott College, 26-24, 25-13, 26-24, in the ECAC New England Semifinals and then prevailing over Smith College in a five-set thriller, 25-20, 25-14, 19-25, 18-25, 15-6, in the championship match on Saturday at the Alumni Healthful Living Center.
"I'm so happy for all our players and especially our seniors to finish the season with a victory. We played really well throughout the entire tournament against a difficult field and had a lot of fun along the way," Western New England third-year coach Bret Stothart said. "Winning back-to-back ECAC Championships is a difficult challenge but we did it together as a team, and it is something we will remember for many years to come."
Smith finishes the year 23-9 for its most wins since 2005. The Pioneers were seeking their first ECAC title since 1997, and were also runner-up in 1989.
Junior Kasey Cameron recorded her third double-double of 2013 with a match-best 14 kills (.243 hitting) and 14 digs while accounting for 16-1/2 of the team's 79 points against the Pioneers, earning tournament Most Outstanding Player honors. Two of her three double-doubles this fall have come against Smith.
Western New England also got strong offensive performances from seniors Tyler Singh (14 kills, .321), Devyn Frank (10, .194) and junior Carolyn Hajdusek (10, .261). In addition, freshman setter Jessica Sincero established a career-high 36 assists and fellow first-year Jenna Leuck added 18.
Mei-Li Smith and Kristi Hammond both posted double-doubles. Smith had 11 kills and 14 digs and Hammond had 10 kills and 17 digs. Rosa Drummond, one of Smith's five seniors playing in her final collegiate match, had 13 kills, while another senior, Bethany Ashworth, had 33 assists.
The Golden Bears jumped out to a two-sets-to-none lead over the Pioneers by outhitting them .212 and .400 to .114 and .179.
Smith's spirited comeback attempt started in the third with defense and smart play, while limiting WNE to .103 hitting for the next two sets. The Pioneers led wire-to-wire to cut the deficit to 2-1.
After losing the fourth set to even the match at 2, a re-energized WNE offense came out on fire in the decisive fifth stanza. The Golden Bears hit for a .333 clip while holding Smith to .083, getting three kills from Singh. Western New England never trailed after jumping out to a 5-1 lead and then scoring the match's last six points that included three service aces from Sincero.
Earlier in the day, second-seeded WNE swept No. 3 Endicott behind Hajdusek's 10 kills and .429 hitting.
Sincero added seven kills (.267), 17 assists, three aces, six digs and three total blocks. Singh contributed seven kills and three total blocks, Frank (.267, 3 blocks) and Cameron (.261, 8 digs) each had six kills, and junior Grace Kucharski had a match-high 20 digs for a total of 59 in 11 sets during the tournament.
Callie Dolan led the Gulls (23-16) with 11 kills (.214) and Erika Trudon had 12 digs.
The first set featured 15 ties and five lead changes. With neither team gaining more than a three-point lead, WNE fought off a set point with a Singh kill down the middle to tie it 24-all. After an EC attack error that gave WNE a 25-24 lead, the Gulls called a timeout before Hajdusek finished it with a kill.
The second stanza saw WNE never trail while hitting .321 on 12 kills with only three errors in 28 swings. Endicott hit just .094.
The Golden Bears' defense stepped up in the third set that mirrored the first at 26-24, limiting the Gulls to .000 offensively.
Western New England jumped out to leads 8-2 and 14-8 before Endicott eventually went ahead 19-18 on a Jackie Cone service ace.
Coach Stothart called a timeout to settle his team and the Golden Bears responded with consecutive points to reclaim the lead at 20-19. Hajdusek followed a Gull attack error with a kill from Kelsey Armstrong.
The Golden Bears fell behind 22-20 after two straight hitting miscues and a service ace from Trudon.
On the next point, the Gulls committed another attack error and Frank nailed a kill to pull WNE to a 22-22 draw that caused Endicott to call timeout.
The teams then traded the next four points before WNE clinched the victory on back-to-back kills from Frank and Singh.
ECAC Semifinal #1: No. 4 Smith def. No. 1 Salve Regina 25-19, 25-22, 25-17
Earlier in the day, Smith turned the tables on top-seeded Salve Regina University and shocked the Seahawks in a sweep to advance to the ECAC title match.
Smith had lost to Salve Regina three-sets-to-two back on Oct. 3, but turned in a dominating performance by limiting Salve to just .028 hitting for the match.
Paige Sarlandt, Hammond, and Drummond led Smith with eight kills apiece.
Clare Adams led SRU with nine kills and 16 digs, and Katelyn Beauregard and Emily Lipinski added seven kills apiece.
The Seahawks end their season with a 26-5 record.
