WORCESTER, Mass. (September 14, 2024) – The Western New England women's volleyball team rebounded from their midweek road defeat and came away with two victories on Saturday afternoon at hosts Worcester Polytechnic Institute and against Keene State College, defeating both teams by a final score of 3-1.

Records:

• Western New England: 8-1
• Keene State College: 5-4
• WPI: 3-4

How it Happened: vs. Keene State

The Golden Bears opened the game with the first points on a Keene State serve and then went on to win the first five of seven points as Alissa Hawes would produce a kill while Léa Barber picked up two of her own, all assisted by Taylor Geist, giving the Golden Bears an opening 5-2 lead. The Golden Bears lead would extend to seven when Hawes was up to her same old tricks, throwing down another kill, giving the Golden Bears an 11-4 lead. Keene State would make a run after trailing by as many as nine when Stephanie Olah would spark a KSC comeback, seeing WNE's 19-11 lead get cut to a 19-17 lead. Marina Miller would lead the Owls in the service game, picking up one ace. From there, Western New England would pick up five straight points, getting a kill from Leah Warren while Laney Melvin would provide a spark in service. The Golden Bears would lead 24-17 and would eventually find the last point of the set when Barber punched down a kill to give WNE a 25-20 first set victory.

Keene State jumped out to the early 5-1 lead in the second set, though the Golden Bears would quickly erase that lead with six straight points of their own as Isabelle Petty, Hawes, and Warren came up with kills in the string on points that led to a 7-5 Golden Bears lead. The Owls would begin racking up points, however, seeing their lead grow to as many as four, WNE's largest deficit in the match thus far as Molly Wetherbee and Gigi Stake would help the Owls lead grow. Western New England would not be able to mount a full comeback from there as late in the set, Keene State would strike for four of five points, seeing a 20-17 KSC lead, improve to a 23-18 lead. WNE would attempt to fend off set point though Keene State's Mariana Miller would finish off the Golden Bears with a kill, the 25^th point of the second set, evening the match at one.

The two teams would nearly split point for point to begin the third set before the Golden Bears would string together three points in a row that led to an 8-5 lead early. Alissa Hawes continued to fire down kills while Léa Barber continued to follow suit. Becca Mayer, Western New England's dig leader in the set, would pick up a service ace that saw WNE's lead grow to 12-7, while Isabelle Petty would slap down another kill to see the lead get up to as many as seven. Keene State would look to get back into the third set and would get within two points at 17-15, though a four-point sequence for Western New England would see three straight attack errors from KSC and a kill from Leah Warren to give the Golden Bears a 21-15 lead. The Owls would never be able to get back within two points as Western New England got back-to-back kills from Hawes and Barber to pick up the third-set victory, 25-19.

The fourth set, which proved to be the last set of the match, saw Western New England jump out to an early 5-0 lead thanks to three straight attacking errors by Keene State while Barber picked up an ace on service. Overall, WNE opened the fourth set with nine of the first 11 points, leaning on the Owls errors to spark the
run. Western New England would lead the fourth set by as many as ten points after Yemayma Molina and Taylor Geist would combine for a block to give the Golden Bears a 17-7 lead. Western New England women's volleyball would end the fourth set with the final three points of the match, taking down the Owls of Keene State by a final score of 25-17 and 3-1 in the match.

Inside the Lines:

• Western New England hit a shiny .232% in the match as senior Alissa Hawes put down 22 kills in the match, leading all players.
• Leah Warren and Léa Barber were both in double figures in kills in the win, coming away with 11 and 10, respectively. Barber also led the way with 23 digs for the Golden Bears.
• Keene State hit .068% for the match and made 25 attacking errors.
• Yemayma Molina collected five block assists in the match while also picking up one solo block to lead all players.

How it Happened: vs. WPI

Coming off a match victory against the Owls, Western New England looked to continue their dominance on the court against the hosting Engineers of WPI. WNE would pick up the first three points of the new match and six of the first eight points, led by Alissa Hawes and Isabelle Petty, who both started off the match with a kill. WNE continued to serve the ball well, as Laney Melvin would help the Golden Bears extend their lead. Western New England would lead by as many as eight in the opening set, though WPI would break that eight-point lead with five straight points to sink the Golden Bears lead down to three. Three straight points for Western New England would put the lead back up to six as Pettywould toss down a kill from Taylor Geist while Hawes would grab a service ace in the sequence. WPI would again have an answer, picking up four straight points to get the WNE lead down to two. Western New England would power through the WPI responses, seeing Molina, Hawes, and Alyzza Alicea pick up the Golden Bears to finish the first set on top, giving the Golden Bears a 25-20 first set win.

WPI looked to be in control to open the second set, picking up the first seven of ten points in the set. Lilly Eldirdge and Zeala VanDamme helped WPI in the early goings with kills, taking a 7-3 lead. Western New England would quickly storm back and put together five straight points after Leah Warren would pick up a kill and Alissa Hawes would put down another service ace to even the match at nine. WPI would begin to gain momentum following the WNE comeback, seeing Eldridge play a big part in the comeback while five different Engineers would have kills that extended WPI's lead to five, 18-13. Western New England would get back within one after Warren was back on the board with a kill, though the lead would grow again and WPI would finish off the second set with a kill from Fiona Gillis, giving WPI a 25-21 second victory, evening the match at one.

The Golden Bears would not let the second set defeat deter them, however, picking up a quick lead in the third set as Becca Mayer would put together a service ace and Alissa Hawes would pick up a kill, giving WNE an early 4-0 lead. WPI would grab the next six points, taking their first lead of the set, getting four attacking errors for the Golden Bears. WNE would even the set and would come around to take the lead again at 15-14 when Isabelle Petty grabbed back-to-back kills from Taylor Geist, getting WNE their lead back. At the midway point of the match, Western New England would see seven of eight points go their way, taking a 19-15 lead. The Golden Bears would then finish the third set with six of the final eight points, led by four kills, one each from Barber, Haws, Petty, and Molina, giving Western New England a 25-19 third set victory.

As they did in the third set, Western New England opened the fourth set with the first four points of the set and would never look back, never giving up the lead. Molina led Western New England with two early kills, while Hawes would follow with a kill of her down, giving the Golden Bears the early 8-2 lead. WPI would score the next four of five points, though Western New England would continue to have an answer for the mini WPI runs. Alissa Hawes would run WPI off their own court, picking up eight kills in the fourth set, including the final two kills of the set, which won the Golden Bears the match, a 25-19 fourth set victory and a 3-1 overall match win.

Inside the Numbers:

• For the second straight match, Alissa Hawes put up over 20 kills in a match, picking up 21 in the win over WPI, hitting .222%. Hawes also collected four service aces and 26 digs to lead all players.
• Yemayma Molina notched ten kills and no errors on 18 total attacks, while picking up two blocks in the match.
• Taylor Geist picked up 43 set assists in the match, leading all players while also picking up 12 digs.
• WPI hit .140% as a team and was led by Lilly Eldridge, who collected 11 kills and just one error in their loss.

Coaches Corner:

• When asked about the outstanding play of Hawes in Saturday's matches, Head Coach Matt Lein said, "Alissa I think had a career day. She was unstoppable from almost everywhere on the court. When we needed a kill, we knew we could set her and she was going to terminate."
• With a quick turnaround this week, Lein was asked about improvements for practice this week with hosting Elms on Wednesday. "Serve and pass was a major factor in our two set losses today. It has been our focus this year and we will continue to try and clean that up before Wednesday."

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The Golden Bears return home for their second match of the season, hosting Elms College on Wednesday, September 18 at 6:00 PM. WNE defeated Elms 3-0 last weekend at the Framingham State University tri match.