SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (November 1, 2023) – The Western New England women's volleyball team took care of the first set in their CCC matchup with Nichols College before seeing the visitors take the next two sets. The Golden Bears would pull off a huge fourth-set win, followed by a come-from-behind win in the decider, to down the Bison by a final score of 3-2.

Records:

• Western New England: 11-10, 5-2 CCC
• Nichols College: 15-9, 1-6 CCC

How it Happened:

A back-and-forth first set would see no lead greater than two points through the first 15 points of the match until Western New England would go on their first run of the match, grabbing six straight points. Ella Soutter, Becca Mayer, Yemayma Molina, and Elizabeth Long would all contribute for WNE to help grab a 12-7 lead. Nichols would fight back in the match, shrinking WNE's lead to two before Ava Cariddi got on the board with a thunderous kill to set WNE ahead by four points at 14-10. The Golden Bears would grab the last seven of nine points in the match, taking a nine-point victory on a service ace from Becca Mayer, winning the opening set 25-16.

The two teams would use runs to take the lead in the second set after Elizabeth Long got the scoring started for the Golden Bears, while Yemayma Molina and Leah Warren helped the Golden Bears take a 4-1 lead. Nichols would storm back with three straight points, followed by four points from WNE on service from Yemayma Molina. WNE held a 12-9 lead after two straight aces from Alissa Hawes before Nichols would take six of the next seven points to grab a 14-13 lead on a kill from Kya Burdier. Nichols would score the final four points of set two after WNE got within one point of the tie after seeing Nichols go on a stretch run to take the lead. The Bison would close out the last two points on attacking errors from WNE to take a 25-20 lead, evening the two sets.

Nichols would open the third set with the first five points to grab an early 5-0 lead. WNE would quickly bounce back on service from Hailey Sell, who grabbed five straight points for the Golden Bears, while Alissa Hawes would slam a kill down to help WNE lead 9-7. Nichols would score five straight points to take a 12-10 lead and would amass their largest lead of the set at 19-13. Isabelle Petty and Yemayma Molina would grab kills, hoping to help WNE back into the third set before Ryley Plourde would end the third set with a kill, sending Nichols ahead 2-1 in the match and taking set three 25-21.

The feisty Golden Bears would start out strong in the fourth set, hoping to take the match the distance to avoid an upset in the CCC standings. Elizabeth Long notched two kills early, while Yemayma Molina did the same as WNE took a quick 5-1 lead. Nichols would see themselves down by seven points at 12-5 when Alissa Hawes delivered another service ace. Nichols would break WNE's lead down to two points at 17-15 before a 3-0 run would help the Golden Bears finish off the Bison in the fourth set when Ava Cariddi put down a kill to give WNE a 25-21 third-set victory to move into the fifth and final set.

The Golden Bears would grab the first point of the match before Nichols took a 3-1 lead by scoring the next three points in the fifth set. After the score evened at four, Nichols took a 10-4 lead, scoring six straight to look to pull off the upset on the blue and gold. From there, ten of the final 13 points of the match would belong to Western New England, as Alissa Hawes, Elizabeth Long, and Yemayma Molina would all collect kills to guide the Golden Bears to a comeback victory. Taylor Geist would serve up the final point of the match that would be misplayed by the Bison defense, giving the Golden Bears a 15-13 fifth set win and a 3-2 match victory.
Inside the Lines:

• Western New England has won four straight against Nichols and is a perfect 5-0 on home court against the Bison. This is just the second time in history that the match has gone longer than three sets, as the Bison pulled off a 3-2 win back on April 22, 2021.
• Elizabeth Long (12), Yemayma Molina (11) and Alissa Hawes (10) all recorded double-digit kills for WNE.
• Taylor Geist served up 24 assists, while Hailey Sell came away with 16.
• WNE hit.156 as a team, while Nichols College, led by their tremendous play in the second and third sets, hit.180.
• Western New England grabbed 15 aces in the match.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The Golden Bears host Endicott College for senior day on Saturday, November 4, at 11:00 a.m.