Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
MIDDLETOWN, Conn.--The Western New England University women's volleyball program registered its first 20-win campaign under second-year coach Bret Stothart after the Golden Bears defeated host Wesleyan 24-26, 25-14, 25-9, 25-14 and Worcester Polytechnic Institute 25-14, 25-16, 23-25, 18-25, 15-7 in a pair of non-conference matches on Saturday.
Against the Cardinals,
Tyler Singh had a well-rounded match with team bests of 14 kills and six service aces to go along with five blocks. The Western New England offense, which hit at a .264 clip, also had balanced performances from
Kasey Cameron and
Devyn Frank with nine kills apiece and
Inna Sergeychik and
Emily McGran had seven each.
Heather Mears found those open hitters with 38 assists.
Defensively, Cameron joined Singh with five blocks. Sergeychik posted a team-high 17 digs and
Grace Kucharski posted 16.
Western New England could have won the match in a sweep when it was up 24-22 in the opening stanza but faltered late after getting to set point--despite totaling 16 kills for the set.
Versus the Engineers,
Maureen Pollet paced the offense with 10 kills and McGran and Singh both chipped in eight. Mears had 38 assists again.
Kucharski dug 26 balls, followed by
Jennifer Mears with 15 and Sergeychik, 11.
"We were up and down as a team today. When we were playing with intensity and passion, I felt like we dominated play, but we also relaxed and didn't play hard in some sets," Stothart said. "Fortunately, we were able to pull out two victories on the day and gain some momentum heading into next week."
The last Golden Bears team to notch 20 wins was in 2009 after a 27-10 season.
(Editor's note: Box scores are not available at this time.)