SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (September 28, 2024) – The Western New England women's volleyball team collected their tenth win of the season on Saturday afternoon, coming away with a 3-0 win over the Lancers of Worcester State University.

Records:

• Western New England: 10-3
• Worcester State University: 4-11

How it Happened:

Western New England jetted out to a quick start over the Lancers, starting off with a 5-0 lead on service from Léa Barber. Alissa Hawes would pick up two early kills, while Taylor Geist would drop one in as well to get the Golden Bears off to a quick start. Worcester State would come back, however, picking up seven of the next nine points to even the match at seven. WSU picked up three kills while the Golden Bears committed three attacking errors to allow the Lancers back into the match. Worcester State would pick up their first lead at 12-11 after Kaitlyn Anthony dropped a kill, while the Lancers would extend their lead to 13-11 on a service ace from Kate Stedronsky, giving the Lancers a 13-11 advantage. From there, the Golden Bears would fire back, stringing together the next eight of 11 points to retake the lead. Five Lancers attacking errors would set the road team behind while Geist picked up a kill and Yemayma Molina a block in the sequence as WNE took a 19-16 lead. Worcester State would trail 23-17 before picking up the next four points to get right back into the match, seeing Alexia Mitchell drop a service ace to help Worcester State get back into the match. Although back in it, the Lancers would produce an attacking error on a block from Leah Warren and Isabelle Petty to grab set point. The set would be finished off by Molina, who gave WNE a 25-22 victory. Both teams did not hit exceptionally well in the opening set, as WNE picked up ten attacking errors though picked up five service aces.

Western New England would dominate the second set of the match, quickly jumping out to a 6-1 lead on three aces from Léa Barber, while Taylor Geist would continue to trick the Lancers, picking up another WNE point. Worcester State would get back within three after back-to-back points, including a block by both Angela Colonis and Kaitlin Cueva, though Western New England would rely on Alissa Hawes, who picked up the next four WNE points, three kills, and a block, giving the Golden Bears a 9-3 lead. WNE would open a 17-8 lead following a kill from Molina and a bad set by Worcester's Megan Bardis. The final seven points of the match would favor the Golden Bears, as Rachel Critz would shine, grabbing a kill and back-to-back blocks at points 24 and 25 to end the set in the way of the Golden Bears, seeing Western New England come away with a 25-11 second set victory. Western New England hit a shiny .435% from the floor in the second set while recording 13 kills, five blocks, and three service aces.

Western New England picked up the final set victory in the third set to sweep the Lancers, though Worcester State would stay in the match until the final kill. WNE jumped out to a 4-1 lead as Geist continued to collect kills, grabbing two early kills, collecting six total for the match. The Lancers would come away with a 5-4 lead following Western New England's early edge, seeing Katherine Crateau come away with two service aces. The two teams would exchange points until Western New England would break out for three kills in a row with the match tied at nine to take a 12-9 lead. Kills from Leah Warren, Yemayma Molina, and Alissa Hawes would lead the way for WNE. The Golden Bears would see Worcester State respond for three points of their own, with two coming via kills. The match would favor Worcester State 15-14, though WNE would pick up the next five points, two attacking errors from WSU, a Taylor Geist service ace, and an Isabelle Petty kill, giving the Golden Bears a 19-15 lead. Western New England would finish off the match at 25-20 in the third set, with Yemayma Molina picking up the final kill of the match to lift Western New England over Worcester State, 3-0. WNE picked up 16 third-set kills and hit.361%.

Inside the Lines:

• Alissa Hawes came away with 13 kills in the match to lead Western New England. The senior hit .375% from the floor while also coming away with three service aces and seven digs.
• WNE hit .204% from the floor as a whole, Worcester State was under the .000% threshold.
• Taylor Geist contributed six kills and 28 set assists for the Golden Bears in the match.
• Worcester State had 19 kills in the match on 101 total attacks. Cassidy D'Esposito collected five of those 19 kills.

Coaches Corner:

• Head Coach Matt Lein mentioned the importance of today's match as the team now prepares for Wednesday's conference match against Curry. "I think we did a lot of nice things, especially in the second and third sets, and generated a lot more offense, which is something that we needed. We also were able to pass a lot better in the second and third sets, which is something we have been working on all season.
• Taylor Geist, one of Western New England's top performers of the day, talked about her team's performance on the day. "I think that since we were passing extremely in system, we had all of our options all of the time, and my hitters were doing a great job of transitioning at all times, so it made my life a lot easier out there.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• WNE welcomes Curry College to the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center on Wednesday, October 2 for a CNE match at 6:00 PM.