Box Score BIDDEFORD, Maine--Western New England turned in one of its finest comebacks in school history on Tuesday by upsetting fourth-seeded University of New England in five sets in the first round of the Commonwealth Coast Conference Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament at Harold Alfond Forum. The Golden Bears won the decisive fifth set 15-9 after losing the first two 25-23 and 25-16 before taking the next two 25-11 and 27-25.

Western New England, seeded fifth in the tournament, improves to 22-8 on the season and advances to the CCC Semifinals against top-seeded and nationally-ranked Roger Williams (28-3, 7-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday in Bristol, R.I. The Nor'easters likely end their season with a 14-10 overall record.

Senior Maureen Pollet paced the visitors with 14 kills and a .375 attack percentage on 32 swings (and only 2 errors), followed by 10 from Devyn Frank. Pollet and Frank teamed up for a block on Grayson Szczepaniak's attack attempt to clinch the victory.

"UNE played an outstanding match and forced us to raise our level of play after the first two sets," WNE coach Bret Stothart emailed to WNEGoldenBears.com after the match. "We felt what it was like to really want something tonight and we had to fight to get it. That's a feeling we need every match, every practice, every morning we wake up if we really want to reach our full potential as a team."

UNE's Angie Brunette led all players with 18 kills and .400 hitting, while Szczepaniak and Leah Janelle chipped in 12 and 11 put-downs apiece.

The Nor'easters played terrific defense evidenced by 95 digs to WNE's 76. Janelle completed a double-double with 14, but setter Maria Kuehl had 29 to go along with 38 assists for another double-double performance, Kirsta Adie had 20 and Nikki Mathewson, 10.

Tyler Singh had a solid all-round match for WNE with seven kills (.273), two digs and a match-best five total blocks. Carolyn Hajdusek matched Singh with seven kills (.235) and had three blocks. Freshmen setters Jenna Leuck and Jessica Sincero directed the offense with 21 and 16 assists, respectively.

The Golden Bears also played good defense, especially when it mattered most. CCC Libero of the Year Grace Kucharski led the team with 17 digs, followed by Kasey Cameron with 16 and Kendra Ouimette (5 service aces) with a season-best 15. Frank finished with four blocks and Hajdusek added three as WNE posted 10 team blocks.

Western New England hit a respectable .205 compared to .158 for UNE, but still lost the opening set by two points.

The turning point in the match came in the third set when the Golden Bears came out blazing with a .429 attack percentage and holding the Nor'easters to minus-.057 to cruise by 14 points. With UNE ahead 2-0 and play level at 10-10 in the 3rd frame, WNE came alive and executed a 15-1 run to get on the board. Pollet and Frank combined for five of their 10 kills in the set during the closing stretch, in addition to a pair of solo blocks and two block assists.

The fourth stanza saw 15 ties and just once the margin reached as high as four at 9-5 in favor of WNE as the teams battled back-and-forth. Pollet saved a match-point against with her 13th kill of the night to even the score at 24-all, and moments later a UNE service error followed by a fourth ace in the session from Kucharski forced a deciding set.

After the Golden Bears assumed an 8-3 cushion in the fifth, five of the next six points went to the Nor'easters to reduce the deficit to one at 9-8. However, WNE chalked up four more winners before a block from Pollet and Frank sealed the match and completed the comeback.

(Editor's note: UNE Athletic Communications Office contributed to this event recap.)