Golden Bears Volleyball Falls to Endicott in CCC Semifinals

BEVERLY, Mass. (November 3, 2022) – The Western New England women's volleyball team fell to the Endicott College Gulls in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Semifinal match 3-0 to conclude the Golden Bears '22 season with a record of 17-13.

• Western New England: 17-13
• Endicott College: 21-8

How It Happened: Sarah Scott earned the first kill for WNE to even up the first set and a net violation evened it up again at two for WNE before Endicott got off to a four-point lead 7-3. Alissa Hawes got a kill, then scoring proceeded to go back and forth while the Gulls held their four-point lead until a 6-0 run put the Gulls ahead 19-9 with three kills a service ace and two errors from the Golden Bears. A bad serve gave the ball back to WNE, but it wasn't capitalized on, and the Gulls remained ahead by 10. The Golden Bears closed the gap within seven after two kills from Liz Long and an ace from Hailey Sell. The Gulls push their lead back to double digits to gain set point 24-13. The Golden Bears made it very hard for the Gulls to close it out. They forced a 4-0 run with another kill from Long, and two more from Scott, but Endicott finished it out with a kill of their own to be, 1-0.

Endicott began with a 6-0 advantage. Scott got a kill to break up the run, and an attack error gave the Golden Bears another point, 6-2.  Another Gulls run of four, 10-2, then Endicott quickly made it a 10-point game. WNE's Alissa Hawes dumped a kill down to stop the score-streak, and Endicott increased their lead to 14 after three kills were smashed down and two WNE errors. A bad serve gave the Golden Bears another opportunity, they could only get two before the Gulls hit the 20 mark, 20-8. WNE earned some good points including two kills from Scott and one from Yemayma Molina, but it was too late, and the Gulls closed out set two 25-12, 2-0.

The Gulls hit the scoreboard first to open set three. That led to a 3-0 spark from the Golden Bears with a kill from Scott and Rachel Critz, 3-1. Endicott worked their way back into a tie score at 4-4, and the Golden Bears went back ahead two. Once more the Gulls tied the set, this time they took the lead 9-6 until Hawes slammed two kills down that sparked a Golden Bear comeback to even it up 9-9. Endicott, not going away, had two kills and two aces to take the lead, 14-10. WNE would closed the gap and the Gulls maintained their lead, 19-15. Molina had a nice kill to keep the Golden Bears alive, but after a long rally the Gulls got two more kills to be up 21-17. An error gave WNE another point and a kill from Scott and Hawes made it a two point game 22-20. Scott served it into the net but spiked one in on the next play, them followed that up with an ace to make it a one point game 23-22. A serving error and a Gull's kill concluded the match with the them on top to end Western New England's season with a 17-13 record.

Inside the Numbers:

• The Golden Bears concluded the match with 29 kills, 28 assists, 37 digs, and seven total blocks while hitting .138 percent.
• The Gulls ended the match with 42 kills, 41 assists, 48 digs, and five total blocks, while hitting .398 percent
• The Golden Bears were led by Sarah Scott who had 14 kills, seven digs, two service aces, and two blocking assists.
• Taylor Geist contributed with 25 assists, six digs, two blocking assists, and two aces. At Libero, Becca Mayer had 10 digs.

Up Next: The Golden Bears end their 2022 season after 30 games with a record of 17-13 and 4-5 in conference. They conclude with a .567 percent average and will be back in the fall 2023 season.