Volleyball Sweeps Blazers in Home Opener

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (September 1, 2021) – The Western New England University volleyball team opened their 2021 season at home earlier today challenging Elms College where the Golden Bears took control early and swept the Blazers 3-0 to begin their 2021 campaign 1-0.

Records:

• Elms College: 0-1
• Western New England: 1-0

How It Happened:

The first set started with the Blazers scoring the first point. The back-and-forth action began with the two teams trading points until the Golden Bears led 5-3. This jumpstarted the Elms offense to score four unanswered points to take a 7-5 lead. After going down 8-6, Western New England scored three points with a kill from Taylor Geist followed by an ace from Nina Sullivan to take a 9-8 lead. The set was then tied 9-9 before the Golden Bears could solidify a lead 11-9. Another kill by Geist followed by an ace and block assists from Sullivan and Isabelle Petty garnered the Golden Bears a four-point lead (15-11). Despite two strong pushes by the Blazers where they were within one at 15-14 and 24-23, the Golden Bears took the first set with a kill from Olivia Hall 25-23.

The Blazers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set only to have it answered by a Golden Bear 4-0 run to tie the set 4-4. After a service error, Taylor Deluga took the serve and tallied six service aces in the 8-0 run for the Golden Bears to lead 12-5. The Blazers attempted a comeback with 4-0 and 3-0 runs only for the Golden Bears to have two scoring sprees at the end of the set. The Golden Bears led 18-17 before they earned a 4-0 run to lead 22-17. To end the set, the Golden Bears had another service ace from Deluga and a kill from Abigial Bundy to record the 25-18 second set victory and lead 2-0 in the match.

The Golden Bears took an early 3-0 lead in the third set before the Blazers forced more back-and-forth action. It wasn't until the Golden Bears led 9-8 that their offense came alive to score four unanswered points with a kill and an ace by Sullivan. The Golden Bears then went on to lead 19-12 with another 4-0 run. The Blazers only scored three more points in the set while Western New England had one more 4-0 run to end the set with Sarah Scott tallying two service aces. The Golden Bears won their home opener 3-0 over Elms.

Inside The Numbers:

• Deluga led the match in service aces recording eight for a career high.
• Hall earned six kills with a 0.167 hitting percentage while Bundy, Petty and Scott all recorded four kills apiece with Petty leading the team with a 0.25 hitting percentage in her career debut.
• Sullivan led the team in digs with 14 while also contributing two kills, two service aces, and three assists.
• Geist led the Golden Bears in assists with 15 while tallying three kills, two service aces and two digs.

Upcoming on the Schedule:

• The Golden Bears will host Framingham State on September 9^th at 7:00 p.m. for their second game of the season.
• Elms will host the Blazer Invitational where they will face Colby-Sawyer, SUNY Cobleskill and WPI throughout Friday, September 3^rd and Saturday, September 4^th.