Volleyball Defeats the Fighting Scots 3-0 in CCC Opener

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (September 21, 2021) – The volleyball team opened conference play tonight playing host the Gordon College where the Golden Bears defeated the Fighting Scots 3-0.

Records:

• Western New England: 5-5, 1-0 CCC
• Gordon: 4-4, 0-1 CCC

How It Happened:

The first set started with back-and-forth action between the conference foes with Gordon taking a 4-3 lead before Western New England would tally three straight points to take a 6-4 lead. The Golden Bears remained in the lead at 9-7 before the Fighting Scots gained momentum and scored four unanswered points to take an 11-9 lead. Later in the set, the Fighting Scots went on a 6-0 run to lead 21-17 after being behind 17-15. Sarah Scott recorded a kill the very next point to earn the Golden Bears the serve where Taylor Geist started a rally. With Geist at serve, the Golden Bears scored the next eight points to win the first set 25-21.

The Golden Bears opened the second set with a 4-2 lead before the back-and-forth action began again. After going down 7-6, Western New England scored three straight to lead 9-7 only for Gordon to answer with three straight points of their own to take back their one-point lead (10-9). After tying the set 10-10 and then 11-11, the Golden Bears went on a 7-0 run to take their largest lead of the set, 17-11. The Fighting Scots responded with three points only for the Golden Bears to later tally four in a row to take a 23-16 lead. Western New England won the second set 25-18 and took a 2-0 lead in the match.

The third set began with the same back-and-forth action of the entire match. It wasn't until Western New England was down 11-9 that the Golden Bears scored three straight points to take a 12-11 lead only for Gordon to score three themselves and lead 14-12. The Fighting Scots then went on a 4-0 run to take a 20-14 lead. The Golden Bears responded with Olivia Hall at the serve to get back within three (20-17) only to give up two more points to Gordon and be down 22-17. Despite the daunting lead the Fighting Scots had, the Golden Bears rallied for a 4-0 run to be within one (22-21) and then at 23-21 Western New England took control and a kill by Scott ended the set 25-23 and the Golden Bears won their first conference match of the season 3-0.

Inside the Numbers:

• The Golden Bears recorded 34 kills to Gordon's 28 while Western New England hit at a 0.192 hitting percentage and the Fighting Scots hit 0.067.
• Both Scott and Alissa Hawes tallied 10 kills apiece while Hawes set a career high.
• Taylor Geist led the Golden Bears with 32 assists for a new career high, while Hall led the team with nine digs. Hall hit 0.462 on the night with six kills on 13 attempts.
• Both Isabelle Petty and Hawes tallied four block assists each.

Up Next:

The Golden Bears host Worcester State on Thursday, September 23^rd, for a non-conference match with first serve at 7 p.m.