SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (September 14, 2023) – The Western New England women's volleyball team defeated the Owls of Westfield State University for the second straight match, this time defeating the Owls in four sets on home court. 

Records:

• Western New England: 4-4
• Westfield State: 0-9

How it Happened:
Westfield State took the opening set from the Golden Bears to jump out to a quick 1-0 lead in the match. The Golden Bears opened the match with a quick 3-0 lead on kills from Alissa Hawes and Yemayma Molina before the Owls would storm back with three points of their own to even the scoring. Western New England would extend their lead to five points, grabbing kills from Hawes, Elizabeth Long, and Isabelle Petty, taking an 11-6 lead. Down five, Westfield State came storming back and would grab six consecutive points to take a 14-12 lead. The Owls would never lose the lead from there as WNE would drop the opening set 25-19. 

A back and forth second set would see neither team take more than a two-point lead until the middle of the set when Western New England went on a 5-0 scoring run to take a 12-8 lead. Yemayma Molina and Alissa Hawes would be set up by Hailey Sell to take the lead. WNE would extend their lead to 18-12 on a kill from Leah Warren before closing out the set with a 25-17 victory as the two teams split the opening two sets. 

In the third set, Westfield State would jump out to an early 3-0 lead and would hold onto the lead until Western New England grabbed a 3-0 run on two service aces from Taylor Geist to help the blue and gold take a 7-6 lead. The third set would be a game of runs as Westfield State retook the lead on a three-point scoring streak before Western New England would flip the script, grabbing five straight point all on errors from the Owls. Isabella Procida would guide WNE to three straight service points to take a 17-12 lead, finished off by an Ava Cariddi kill. Western New England would take the fourth set when Leah Warren finished a kill while Elizabeth Long's serve would prove to be too much to handle, giving WNE the 25-17 victory. 

Looking to extend the match, Westfield State jumped out into a quick 3-0 edge, as they did in two of the first three sets.
Western New England would respond on a block from both Alissa Hawes and Isabelle Petty. The match would continue to be a back-and-forth battle with Westfield State eventually extending their lead to as many as seven on a 8-0 run. The pesky Golden Bear would fight back late in the match and would even the score at 19-19 with a Leah Warren kill set up by Becca Mayer. A set point for the Owls at 24-23 would not go their way as Alissa Hawes would come flying in with a kill from Hailey Sell while Isabelle Petty would strike one to the floor to reverse course and send WNE to a match point. The Owls would interrupt that, getting the next two points to send the match once again to set point. Western New England would see the Owls fumble the ball on an attack error to even the score at 26-26. Westfield State would grab the next point to once again, for the third time, force set point, but the Golden Bears stood tall on their home court, getting the next three points, ending with a kill from Ella Soutter as WNE took the final set 29-27 and took the match 3-1. 

Inside the Lines:

• Alissa Hawes finished the night with 16 kills to lead all players in the match. Both Isabelle Petty and Leah Warren collected 11 kills each for WNE.
• Hailey Sell grabbed 30 assists and collected four service aces for WNE. 
• Julia Dangle-Garcia helped Westfield State, collecting 17 assists. 
• WNE grabbed six blocks in the match with Isabelle Petty, Yemayma Molina, and Alissa Hawes grabbing two each. 
• WNE hit .144% in the match while the Owls hit .089%. 
• WNE has now won three straight against the Owls and are 20-5 in the las 25 matches between the two schools. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• WNE heads to Wheaton College (Mass.) on Saturday, September 16 at 11:00 AM for a tri-match with the Lyons and Plymouth State University.