Volleyball Takes Down Elms in Three Sets

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.  (September 6, 2022) – The Western New England women's volleyball team did not disappoint fans in their first home match, winning straight sets to defeat the Elms College Blazers.  

Records:

• Western New England: 3-2
• Elms College:  1-3

How It Happened: The Blazers hit the scoreboard first after a service error from the Golden Bears, but WNE soon picked it up, going for six straight points and creating a 7-3 lead gap. Another three straight and a couple of plays where the two teams exchanged points, the Golden Bears had another series of four kills that Elms could not stop. The Golden Bears had pushed their lead to 16-7 before Elms had to call a timeout to gather themselves. The timeout worked in the Blazers favor gaining them a few plays that fell their way to close the lead of WNE to 18-14. The Blazers weren't going down without a fight. The Golden Bears would have some ball handling errors that also let Elms creep back in the set, closing the game lead to 22-20. WNE did win set one, consecutively getting a kill from Liz Long, a kill from Alissa Hawes, and a Blazers' setting error to win the first one 25-20.

Sarah Scott opened set two with a kill to go up 1-0, and the next play, the Blazers returned one of their own, 1-1. Two errors and another kill now had WNE leading set two 4-1. This was motivation for Elms who tied and took the lead after a series of kills, for a 6-5 score. They did not hold the lead long. Scott, on fire earned another kill and two service aces. The Golden Bears taking back their lead had a score of 13-7. The Blazers never giving up did fight their way back within two 13-11, but WNE had another straight five points, and an increased lead of 18-11. With that big of a lead, the two teams even though going point for point or kill for kill at the end of the set did not affect the outcome much. The Golden Bears won set two 25-19. 

WNE quickly picked up the first two points of the set, but Elms had it tied back up at 3-3. Every time the Golden Bears picked up a lead, the Blazers closed the gap. A kill from Scott and a kill from Leah Warren gave them back the lead, but then Elms picked up a kill of their own. A few attack errors bumped WNE's back up, but the Blazers weren't far behind. Elms tied the score up at 11-11, 12, and 13, then took the lead in the set. The change of events made the Golden Bears come together and take back the set. A service error brought WNE's score up 17-15. The last couple of the Blazers points were a service error and a kill, the score now 19-17. The Golden Bears ended the set with three more kills while giving the Blazers four more errors, to win the final set 25-17 and the game in three straight sets.

Inside the Numbers:

• The Golden Bears ended the match with 36 kills, 33 assists, and 71 digs, while hitting .176 percent.
• Sarah Scott led Western New England with 13 kills and 13 digs also two service aces.
• At the Libero, Becca Mayer had 21 digs and three assists.
• Hailey Sell led the team in assists with 28.

Up Next: The Golden Bears will be back on the road this Thursday, September 8, where they will face the Framingham State Rams at 7:00 p.m.