SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (September 18, 2024) –  The Western New England women's volleyball team dropped the opening set of Wednesday's 3-1 victory over Elms College, seeing the Blazers come away with a set win over WNE for the first time since 2018 before coming all the way back to take the victory from the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center.

Records:

• Western New England: 9-1
• Elms College: 0-9

How it Happened:

The Golden Bears meet the Blazers of Elms College for the second time this season, after coming away with a 3-0 victory earlier this season in a tri-match. The Golden Bears did not get off to the start they were looking for in the first set, seeing the Blazers come away with the first point of the match and four of the first six points in the match. Western New England would look to fight back as Leah Warren and Ava Cariddi would pick up kills to even the score at six. Elms would come away with the next three points as two attacking errors by the Golden Bears would cost them points, while a kill from Victoria Solis would give Elms their three-point lead. The Blazers would continue to get excellent play, seeing their lead grow to six points after another three-point spurt would see Elms pick up a kill and a block to gain a 16-10 advantage. The Golden Bears would turn on the jets and see Léa Barber and Yemayma Molina pick up kills to drop Elms' lead to 19-18. WNE would storm back to take the lead after three Elms errors and a Barber kill, seeing the Golden Bears pick up a 22-20 lead. From there, Elms would take the advantage despite seeing the Golden Bears reach match point, as the Blazers would score the final three points of the opening set to take a 27-25 opening set victory. Despite the Golden Bears owning Elms in the kills column, the Blazers picked up three service aces while WNE was charged with five service errors in the opening set.

Western New England opened the second set with two points after two attacking errors from Elms, helping the Golden Bears take the early edge. Isabelle Petty and Becca Mayer would collect kills to extend WNE's lead, though Elms would continue to play hard despite their 0-8 record on the season, taking a 7-6 lead. From there, the Golden Bears would spring together small runs to begin to pull away from the Blazers. Alissa Hawes and Ava Cariddi would pick up two kills each, putting the Golden Bears ahead 14-11. WNE would keep getting excellent play from Alissa Hawes, while Morgan Bonin, Petty, and Cariddi would collect kills down the stretch to help lead WNE to a 25-19 second set victory. WNE made just two attacking errors in the second set while hitting .400 from the floor.

The third set was owned by Western New England, who saw Elms jump out to a 2-1 lead though would give up just four more points to EC while coming away with 24 of the final 28 points of the match. In the set, the Golden Bears collected 13 kills and hit .367%, attacking 30 times. Alissa Hawes would lead WNE with six kills in the set, while Taylor Geist would own 14 assists and serve 11 straight times, giving WNE a 13-2 lead. Laney Melvin would spark a new run for WNE that gave the Golden Bears a 17-4 lead, while Evelyn Taylor would finish off Elms with another Golden Bears run that gave Western New England a 25-6 third set win and a 2-1 match lead.

Hawes would lead off the fourth set of the match with a kill, while the Blazers would open the fourth set with a 4-2 lead. Despite the deficit, WNE would come back on kills by Hawes, Rachel Critz, and a service ace by Becca Mayer to give WNE the early 5-4 lead. Elms would not go away easily, leading 9-8, though that would be their last lead of the match as a five-point stretch would fall in Western New England's way, seeing Laney Melvin take control of the service game for WNE, leading 13-9. WNE would continue to role as Elms would faulter down the stretch. Alyzza Alicea would collect a strong service streak while Barber and Geist would grab kills to give WNE a 19-12 lead. Western New England would close out the match with the final six points, five services from Becca Mayer, while Hawes would continue to be dominant on the floor, giving Western New England a 25-14 fourth set win and a 3-1 match victory.

Inside the Lines:

• The Golden Bears hit .357 for the match while both Alissa Hawes and Léa Barber collected double-digit kills. Hawes would hit .484 for the match, totaling 18 kills and just three errors, while Barber hit .409, grabbing 12 kills and just three errors.
• The Golden Bears made just 11 attacking errors all night, attacking 129 times.
• Taylor Geist picked up 44 set assists on the night to lead WNE.
• Both Hawes and Becca Mayer would collect 20 digs each, a match high.
• Elms was led by Victoria Solis, who collected eight kills on 40 attacks. The Blazers hit .043 as a team.
• Western New England is now a perfect 11-0 all-time against Elms.

Coaches Corner:

• After a first-set loss, Head Coach Matt Lein was asked about what his message to the team was to collect the fourth-set win. "It was about getting back to the basics after the first set. Getting back to our serve and pass and making sure that we were in system more and we needed to utilize our middles much more and going to our big hitters to get the job done.
• Alissa Hawes talked about the second match of the season with Elms, noting there was not much of an advantage after having played the Blazers already this season. "I don't feel like we had an advantage," said Hawes. "I think we have to play like it is a new team every match and give it our all, and that is what we did tonight.
• After picking up her eighth double-digit kills match of the season and fifth straight overall, Hawes commented, "I went out there and just wanted to have fun and play loose. That's what I did. The swings were working for me, so I was just going for it."

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The Golden Beats are back on the road on Friday, September 20 for a non-conference match with Johnson & Wales University at 6:00 PM.