Volleyball Suffers Heartbreaking Five Set Loss in CCC Play

SPRINGIELD, Mass. (September 24, 2022) – The Western New England women's volleyball team took on CCC opponent the Wentworth Institute of Technology Leopards where they faced a tough fifth set upset after two deuces, losing to the Leopards 3-2.

Records:

• Western New England: 10-5
• Wentworth Institute: 8-5

How It Happened:

A bad set earned Wentworth their first score of the game, and a kill to put them up two. The Golden Bears responded with a kill from Sarah Scott and two attack errors from the Leopards had WNE up one 3-2. Wentworth spiked two down to take the lead back, Scott tied it with another kill and again with an ace, score even at six. Following a bad serve, the Golden Bears got back a lead after two kills from Alissa Hawes and a Wentworth attack error, 7-9. The Leopards fought back to even it up after the Golden Bears would go up one. With the score at 11-11, WNE took their biggest set lead with four in a row, two kills, an ace, and a Leopard attack error, 15-11. Wentworth put down a kill and the Golden Bears took another three in a row, lead now 18-12. An attack error handed Wentworth the serve, but a serving error gave it back to WNE, and another kill from Hawes had them up 20-13. One more kill for Wentworth that proceeded to WNE taking over the set. They had a 4-0 run and Hawes finished it with a kill to give the Golden Bears the set, 25-16.

Scott had the first kill for WNE in set two. It was proceeded by an ace from Zoe Bozzay. The Golden Bears started 3-0. The Leopards spiked it down, but the next rally had an attack error. An ace and a kill had the Golden Bears ahead 7-3. After a few volleys and rallies, Wentworth tied the set up 10-10.WNE worked to increase their set advantage and had another four-point lead, 17-13. The Leopards would not go down without a battle. They tied up the set and took the lead with seven consecutive points, score 19-17. Hawes spiked one down for WNE and Yemayma Molina added one to tie, Wentworth went back up two, they had an error and Hawes had two aces to take back the set 22-21. Again, the Leopards took a two-point lead, fortunately two errors deuced the set for the Golden Bears, but a kill and an ace gave the Leopards set two 26-24, and each team with a set a piece.

Continuing with the game's fashion, Scott got the first kill of set three as well and the Golden Bears the first score. A bad serve put Wentworth on the scoreboard, a kill from Taylor Geist had WNE up one, and kill from the Leopards evened it. Three attack errors and an ace from Scott took the Golden Bears back up 6-2. the Golden Bears pushed their lead to five points after the second kill from Liz Long in the set and one from Molina, 10-5. The two teams exchanged kills and another error, kill, ace combo had WNE ahead 14-7. The scoring was mirrored for the teams. They would have a couple of serves and then give the other team the serve. The Golden Bears had a 4-0 run and then let the Leopards go on a 4-0 run. The score was 19-13, Golden Bears. Long and Hawes had another kill series to increase the gap 21-13. The teams played it out even, the lead the Golden Bears already built let them gain match point, taking set three 25-16.

After a tie score of two, the Leopards had an impressive 6-0 run. The Golden Bears did not hit the board again until a service error, the score 6-3 Leopards. WNE fought to bring it within two, 10-8, Wentworth responded with a 4-0 run, now ahead 14-8. Two kills closed the gap a little for the Golden Bears, errors brought back the Leopards lead 17-10. WNE worked to shorten the gap to come back in the set, but Wentworth couldn't be stopped in set four. They had another consecutive four, leading by almost 10 now 23-14. There was a late set effort where the Golden Bears had a kill, an ace, and a kill but it didn't stop the Leopards from getting 25 and tying up the sets again.

The last set was a complete battle from beginning to end. Wentworth started getting two in a row, The Golden Bears answered with two in a row. An attack error put Wentworth up one, a kill tied it for the Golden Bears. The leopards went back up two, another kill had the Golden Bears down one. Two kills had the Leopards up by three now 7-4, the Golden Bears pushed it back to a one-point game. After the teams had switched sides, Wentworth had built up a four-point lead and were sitting at set point 14-10. Kill after kill after kill tied and deuced the game again for an impressive comeback from the Golden Bears. An attack error due to an injury had the Leopards at set point, Hawes spiked one for another deuce. A service error and a heartbreaking rotation violation sealed the Golden Bears fate. They lost to the Leopards, a fifth set of 17-15, final score 3-2.

Inside the Numbers:

• The Golden Bears ended the match with 61 kills, 54 assists, 105 digs, and eight blocking assists while hitting .156 percent.
• The Leopards ended the match with 41 kills, 40 assists, 104 digs, and one block, while hitting .100 percent
• Sarah Scott led Western New England with 18 kills, 23 digs, five service aces, and two assists, while having one blocking assist.
• Alissa Hawes added with 14 kills, 22 digs, four assists, three blocking assists, and two service aces.
• At the Libero, Becca Mayer led the team in digs with 29, adding three assist and two aces.
• Hailey Sell contributed with 43 assists and eight kills.

Up Next: The Golden Bears are headed to Boston, Mass. on Wednesday, September 28, to face CCC opponent, the Suffolk University Rams for a 7 p.m. start time.