SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (September 4, 2024) – The Western New England women's volleyball team, led by first-year Léa Barber, took down the visiting AMCATs from Anna Maria College on Wednesday night in the teams home opening game from the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center by a final score of 3-0. Barber recorded 12 kills to lead all players in the match.

Records:

• Western New England: 4-0
• Anna Maria College: 0-3

How it Happened:

The Golden Bears took advantage early in the match, coming away with six of the first seven points to take a commanding lead. Isabelle Petty began the match with a kill, while three attacking errors by the AMCATs would quickly put the visitors behind. While Anna Maria would get within three points at 6-3, the Golden Bears would turn up the pressure, knocking down five straight points, picking up four kills, two coming from first-year Léa Barber. The Golden Bears would continue their momentum on service from Barber, getting six straight points to expand their lead to 13, 19-6. Morgan Bonin, Alissa Hawes, and Yemayma Molina would pick up kills in the stretch run. The Golden Bears would quickly end the first set after Isabelle Petty would slam down a kill while the AMCATs were charged with ten attacking errors in the first set, helping lead the Golden Bears to a 25-11 victory.

The AMCATs would find their game in the second set, opening the set with a kill while getting back-to-back kills from Jana Hunt, giving AMC a 4-2 lead. Barber would look to get Western New England back in the match with two straight kills as WNE saw the Anna Maria lead shrink back down to one point, 7-6. From there, Anna Maria would make their largest run of the match, grabbing four straight points to take their largest lead of the night, 11-6. The Golden Bears would pick up a service ace from Madison Stauss, while three straight points would go the Golden Bears way to get back into the match at 11-9. Anna Maria would strike again, this time picking up six straight points to take a commanding 17=9 lead, well in the driver seat of winning their first set of the season after falling 3-0 in both their previous matches this season. All together, the AMCATs picked up ten of 11 points through the middle of the second set to take a 21-10 lead over the Golden Bears. Western New England would not be disrupted, however, finding their game late in the set and would begin to string points together, holding off Anna Maria from taking set point. Ava Cariddi, Rachel Critz, and Léa Barber would help the Golden Bears storm back with nine of their own ten points while holding off three AMC set points. Barber's kill would even the match at 24, as the Golden Bears would look to complete the comeback. Anna Maria would pick up the 25^th point of the set, though the Golden Bears would again hold off set point with Barber's sixth kill of the set. The first year would tally seven total kills in the set, while Taylor Geist would record the final punch to the AMCATs in the set, dropping in a service ace, giving Western New England a 27-25 set two victory.

"It took some great senior leadership to get back into the second set," said Head Coach Matt Lein. "It was a lot of fun to watch the team go out there and compete and come back in that set."

The Golden Bears eased through the third set to come with the match victory, not letting Anna Maria pick up double digits in the third set. Becca Mayer would drop back-to-back service aces for Western New England as the Golden Bears got out to a 9-2 start. Morgan Bonin would smash down back-to-back kills for WNE, while Yemayma Molina and Taylor Geist would follow suit, as WNE continued to pour on the good play in the final set of the match. A string of five straight points would lead Western New England to an 18-5 lead over the AMCATs, while Ariana Barbosa would pick up a kill to help outstretch the Golden Bears to a 25-9 victory over Anna Maria.

"This is certainly a match I will remember for a long time," said Western New England fifth-year Becca Mayer. "We were able to rally around each other tonight, especially in that second set, and we continued to get better as we went on and got through that second set."

Inside the Numbers:

• Western New England hit .302 as a team, a season best, led by Léa Barber, who recorded 12 kills on 27 total attacks, hitting .296.
• The Golden Bears made just 12 attacking errors in the match, while Anna Maria came away with 23.
• Western New England picked up 14 total block attempts in the win, led by senior Yemayma Molina, who picked up three.
• Taylor Geist picked up 15 assists for Western New England.
• 11 Golden Bears attributed one kill in the match.
• WNE improves to 6-0 all-time against Anna Maria, dropping just one set in those six matches.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The Golden Bears will head to Framingham State University for a tri-match with the Rams and Elms College on Saturday, September 7, beginning at 1:00 PM.