Box Score Boxscore

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Maureen Pollet spiked a team-best 16 kills to lead the Western New England University women's volleyball team to a five-set win in its home opener Friday against Western Connecticut, outlasting the Colonials 25-11, 21-25, 26-24, 15-25, 15-13 at the Alumni Healthful Living Center Field House. It was the first match for both teams in the 2012 WNE Volleyball Invitational, with Emerson sweeping Westfield State 25-18, 25-23, 23-16 in tonight's other match.

The visiting Colonials fall to 2-3 while the Golden Bears remain unbeaten at 4-0 on the season.

Paxton Thornton led the Western Connecticut offense with 20 kills to lead all players, adding 24 digs and two blocks. Jennifer Hogan had 34 assists and 13 digs. Melanie Lombardi chipped in five kills and five blocks.

On the Western New England side, libero Grace Kucharski led all players with a season-best 28 digs. Heather Mears recorded 47 assists, nine digs and two blocks. Tyler Singh notched nine kills (.261) and two blocks, while Devyn Frank had eight and five. The match ended when Pollet smashed a kill down the left sideline, a play that occurred after a WNE timeout.

In the first set, WNE came out flying and helped force WCSU into a negative team hitting percentage of minus-.167. The Golden Bears made just four hitting errors in 23 attempts for a .217 success rate.

After the teams traded the next two sets, the Colonials turned the tables to easily take the fourth set 25-15, jumping out to an 18-10 lead. WCSU hit .258 while holding WNE to a .029 clip.

Then in the decisive set, the Golden Bears' blocking turned up big by recording three straight points to ignite an 8-4 advantage.