Volleyball Makes Huge Comeback, Splits with Wheaton & Eastern Connecticut

NORTON, Mass.  (October 15, 2022) – The Western New England women's volleyball team hit the road for another tri-match tournament against Wheaton College Lyons and the Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors, hosted by Wheaton. The had an incredible comeback win against the Lyons to win 3-2 after being down 2-0. They lost to the Warriors 3-0, to come out even on the day.

• Western New England: 14-9
• Wheaton College: 9-10
• Eastern Conn. State: 14-5

How It Happened vs. Wheaton College: Scoring started off even between the two teams to open set one. Wheaton then put two kills down, WNE got an attack error, and then a service ace had the Lyons ahead 6-3. The Golden Bears quickly tied it up at 7-7, then later took a one-point lead, but another four-point run for the Lyons had them back in the lead 12-9. The set was very competitive. A kill from Sarah Scott and a Wheaton attack error made it another one-point set, a couple of WNE errors pushed back up the score difference until another kill from Scott and an ace from Becca Mayer evened it up at 15-15. The Lyons responded with three straight kills and The Golden Bears retaliated with five straight points, a Lyons error, a service ace from Hailey Sell, and three kills from Liz Long, Taylor Geist, and Mayer, to take set lead 20-18. The Lyons answered with five of their own taking the lead 23-20. A fight to the end, the Golden Bears had the score tied again 23-23 until a kill and an ace closed out the first set with Wheaton on top 25-23.

Two kills began set two for Wheaton, a kill from Scott for the Golden Bears then another kill from the Lyons. WNE took set control with three consecutive points, Wheaton stole it back, and the Golden Bears evened it again, 5-5. The Lyons had another three-kill run that gave them the momentum for the set. The Golden Bears were fighting from behind the rest of the set. After a few scores from WNE, the Lyons earned another four consecutive kills and an ace that gave them an eight-point lead 16-8. The Golden Bears fought to bring the score within two after an ace and a kill from Scott 18-16, but the Lyons pushed their lead back to four. Wheaton had match-point after finishing set two with another win, 25-20.

Continuing with the competitive play of the game, scoring was back-and-forth to start set three. There were five lead changes before the Golden Bears took over and held the lead of the set. WNE had a point lead at 9-8 following two Lyons' errors, two errors and a kill gave Wheaton a two-point lead, 11-9, that they increased to 15-12. The Golden Bears ignited a 6-0 run that ended with three kills from Leah Warren, Geist, and Mayer. The Lyons had to fight from down in the set now. The Golden Bears started their comeback after winning set three 25-20.

The Golden Bears controlled the rest of the game. The Lyons began the scoring in the fourth set. WNE tied the set at 5-5, Wheaton took another small lead, and then the Golden Bears took the lead 10-9. A kill and an ace put the Lyons ahead two, a kill from Yemayma Molina evened it. Another kill going the other way and then it was Golden Bear Volleyball. WNE had a 20-17 advantage, the Lyons smashed another kill down. A service error and a kill from Scott gave them a more comfortable lead, and a kill from Sell ended set four with the Golden Bears tying up the sets 2-2 and forcing a fifth.

WNE maintained a small lead the entire fifth set, getting off to a 2-0 start and then increasing the lead to 5-1 before a Wheaton timeout that led to them getting ball possession. They scored a few times but a 5-0 run for WNE that started with a kill from Long and ended with a kill from Molina had them ahead 12-7. Molina also had the last kill of the game for the Golden Bears to win after an amazing comeback against the Lyons 15-10.

On the Court:

• The Golden Bears concluded the match with 57 kills, 45 assists, 70 digs, and one block while hitting .211 percent.
• The Lyons ended the match with 54 kills, 49 assists, 75 digs, and one block, while hitting .192 percent
• Sarah Scott led the Golden Bears with 20 kills, 12 digs, two service aces, and one assist.
• At the Libero, Becca Mayer had 20 digs, three assists, and two kills.
• Hailey Sell contributed with an impressive 39 assists, 13 digs, and four kills.

How it Happened vs. Eastern Conn. State: Yemayma Molina put the first two kills down for the Golden Bears before Eastern Connecticut State went on a five-point run. WNE scored a couple more times, and then the Warriors forced a 4-0 run to put them on top 10-4. A service error gave WNE another point that was answered with an Eastern Conn St. 3-0 run to be up 13-5. The Golden Bears slammed down three kills, one from Leah Warren and two more from Molina. Eastern Conn St. went on another unstoppable run, putting up a consecutive seven, for a large gap of 20-8. The Golden Bears forced some small runs, but the Warriors had too much of a lead and won set one 25-15.

The Golden Bears scored to open the second set, but Eastern Conn put up an unmatched 10-0 run with five kills and five service aces for a 11-3 score. They went up 10 after a couple more WNE scores, 16-6. The Golden Bears again forced some small runs that was too late. The Warriors closed out the second set almost ahead by 10, 25-16, to have match-point.

To start set three the Golden Bears held a lead for a few points. They scored first and was ahead at 7-6 before the Warriors retook the game. Eastern Conn. St. had a 3-0 run broken up by a kill from Sarah Scott, and then they had a 10-0 run that put them up by double digits 19-8 again with mostly kills and aces. The Golden Bears fell again by two much to comeback. They lost to the Warriors 3-0, losing the final set 25-12.

Inside the Numbers:

• The Golden Bears finished the game with 21 kills, 17 assists, 37 digs, while hitting .071 percent.
• The Warriors ended with 38 kills, 34 assists, 58 digs, and one block while hitting .307 percent
• Yemayma Molina and Sarah Scott tied in kills with seven.
• Becca Mayer led the team in digs with 13 and Taylor Geist led the team in assist with 17.

Up Next: The Golden Bears remain on the road for their next couple of games. Their next match -up is Tuesday, October 18. They are headed to Endicott College to face the Gulls for a 7 p.m. start time.