Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer
Golden Bears Rally in Fifth Set Behind Carly Skibinski to Clip Salve Regina in CCC Opener

Golden Bears Rally in Fifth Set Behind Carly Skibinski to Clip Salve Regina in CCC Opener

NEWPORT, R.I.--Sophomore Carly Skibinski had three of her match-high-tying 18 kills during a key stretch of the fifth set to help propel Western New England to a thrilling 25-21,16-25,25-23,17-25, 15-11 victory Thursday over host Salve Regina in a Commonwealth Coast Conference women's volleyball opener for both squads at the Rodger Recreation Center. The Golden Bears improve to 6-4 on the season while the Seahawks drop to 4-10.

Senior co-captain Olivia Lathrop matched Skibinski with 18 kills (.389), as both student-athletes established a career high in that category tonight. Junior setter Jenna Leuck also had her best performance as a Golden Bear with 29 assists, and classmate Jessica Sincero added 17.

Skibinski's (hitting .325 for the match) first kill in the decisive set tied it 9-9 as the Golden Bears overcame a 5-0 deficit. Then she had back-to-back spikedowns to put WNE in the lead for good, 12-10. Senior co-captain Kelsey Armstrong (7 kills) had the team's next two points on kills to set up match point.

Western New England's defense was outstanding led by freshman libero Emily Woodford, who had a career-best 25 digs to pace all players.

The Golden Bears raced out to an early lead in the first set, forcing a timeout from Salve Regina when the lead ballooned to 15-6 in favor of the visitors. After the timeout the Seahawks scored five of the next six points to close the gap to 16-11 on a service ace from senior Chrissy Fraga. The Golden Bears were the first to reach 20, eventually leading 21-15 after a Seahawks attack error. The Seahawks responded with another 4-1 run to cut the deficit to 3 (22-19 forcing a Western New England timeout. Skibinski won a point for Western New England out of the timeout, but a Golden Bear error and kill from Cassidy Triblicy narrowed the gap again, this time to two points, 23-21. The visitors scored the next two points however; to take the first set 25-21.

Western New England opened up a 3-2 lead to start the second on a service ace from Jenna Leuck, but the Seahawks won five straight points, four coming with Fraga at the service stripe to take a 7-3 lead. The Seahawks would never give up that lead, cruising to a 25-16 set victory to even the match 1-1.

The third set was closely contested as the score was tied 10 times and the lead changed 11 times. The set began with both sides playing a game of cat and mouse were one would take a one point lead only to have the other tie the game. With the Golden Bears leading 8-6 the Seahawks won five of the next six points to take a narrow 11-9 lead. The teams exchanged runs and the Golden Bears were able to again tie the game at 15-15. Kills from Kat Mendes and Emily Lipinski along with a Samantha Higgins gave the Seahawks a 18-15 lead. The Seahawks lead reached four points at 23-19, but the Golden Bears scored six straight points, helped by three kills from Lathrop and two aces from sophomore Alona Kornberg to win the set and stun the Seahawks.

In the fourth the Seahawks and Golden Bears again were neck and neck, tied at 14-14 after a Lathrop kill. Western New England committed a service error to give the Seahawks a 15-14 lead and they never looked back, going on an 11-3 run to with the set 25-17 and force a fifth and deciding set.

The Seahawks jumped on top 5-0 with Samantha Salwa at the service stripe to open the set. The Golden Bears remained calm though, scoring eight of the next eleven to even the score 8-8. The Seahawks took a 10-9 lead, but five straight points for the Golden Bears pushed the Seahawks to the edge of defeat. An attack error by Armstrong kept the Seahawks alive but the Golden Bears won the next point, taking a four-point set victory and 3-2 match victory for their first CCC victory of the year.

Higgins led the Seahawks with 12 kills while Salwa totaled 34 assists and three aces. The Seahawks had five players in double figures for digs, led by Chrissy Fraga with 23. Lipinski recorded a match high three solo blocks, and one assisted block.

Western New England hosts University of New England on Saturday (1 p.m.) in another CCC affair at the Alumni Healthful Living Center, starting a three-match homestand. Salve Regina continues its conference play on the road against Gordon College on the same day and time.

(Editor's note: Salve Athletics contributed to this game recap.)