Women's Volleyball 9/7/2024 4:19:00 PM

WNE Volleyball Overwhelms Framingham State, Elms to Remain Undefeated

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (September 7, 2024) – The Western New England women's volleyball team opened their tri-match with a thumping of hosting Framingham State University, while following that up by cruising to a sweep of the Blazers of Elms College, remaining undefeated on the season.

Records:

Western New England: 6-0
Framingham State University: 0-3
Elms College: 0-4

How it Happened (vs. Framingham State):

The opening set of the first match for Western New England saw the hosting Rams of Framingham State take the opening point of the match, though that would not deter the Golden Bears from easily taking the set. Isabelle Petty opened the scoring for WNE with a kill on an assist by Taylor Geist. The Rams would take a 3-2 lead in the match early, though Western New England women's volleyball would dominate from there, forcing FSU to take a timeout after the Golden Bears would score nine of 11 points in a row, taking an 11-5 lead. Leah Warren, Laney Melvin, and Léa Barber would help the Golden Bears start their big lead. The Rams would look to climb back into the opening set with two straight points following the timeout, though Becca Mayet would contribute a rare kill while Taylor Geist would execute the perfect serve, picking up an ace to give WNE a 13-7 lead. WNE would close the first set with seven of eight points going their way. Barber would collect three service aces in a row while Yemayma Molina would slam down a kill, giving the Golden Bears a double-digit lead. Petty would finish off the first set with a dramatic spike to the floor, as WNE would win 25-14 to open the match.

Western New England would open the second set with three straight points as two attacking errors by the Rams would cost the home team while Geist would continue her excellence on service, picking up an ace to get Western New England off to the 3-0 lead. Framingham State would come back quickly, however, taking advantage of two attacking errors by the Golden Bears while an ace for the Rams would put the hosts ahead 6-5. WNE would respond with two straight points of their own before Framingham would do the same, giving the Rams an 8-7 lead. From there, it would be all Golden Bears for the rest of the second set, as the Golden Bears would handle FSU. Alissa Hawes, Yemayma Molina, and Isabelle Petty would register kills for the Golden Bears in a 14-9 advantage for Western New England, who made a run of seven of eight points in their favor. The Golden Bears would close the second set with a massive run, scoring 11 of 12 points to dispatch the Rams and win the set 25-12. Geist would continue outstanding service while Ava Cariddi Alissa Hawes would help finish off Framingham to give WNE a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Golden Bears would continue their dominant play in the third set, which turned out to be the final set of the match. Leah Warren and Isabelle Petty would give the Golden Bears their first lead of the set while the Rams would hang around early, as they did in the first two sets, though the Golden Bears would prove to be too much for the home team down the stretch. After a 6-5 Framingham State lead, Western New England would find their game, led by Cariddi on service, scoring four straight points for WNE. Western New England would take a commanding 15-9 lead at the midway point of the set after Geist continued to keep the Rams guessing on service. The Rams would get within four points at 16-12 before WNE would run away with the match as Alissa Hawes would grab the final point of the match for the Golden Bears, defeating the Rams 25-15 in the third set and 3-0 in the match.

"I think we were slow to start again today but as we settled in, we played WNE volleyball" said Head Coach Matt Lein. "Minimizing errors and trying to get to 12 kills per set. Taylor (Geist) has been crucial in these matches and getting our hitters great opportunities to score."

Inside the Lines:

The Golden Bears picked up 11 total service aces in the match, with Léa Barber and Taylor Geist combining for seven of the 11 aces in the three-set victory.
Alissa Hawes led the Golden Bears with nine kills on 26 total attacks. The senior also put together seven digs in the match.
Both Rachel Critz and Isabelle Petty proved to be valuable players in the win, hitting over .400 for the Golden Bears.
The Rams hit -.048 for the match while collecting 26 total attacking errors.
Western New England improves to 16-2 all-time over Framingham State, including wins in their last five matches.

How it Happened (vs. Elms College):

The Golden Beard did not miss a beat to open the first set against the Blazers, taking down Elms to open the match with a quick 1-0 lead. Three straight kills for the Golden Bears would give Western New England a 3-0 lead in the set as Alissa Hawes and Leah Warren (2) would contribute early punches for the Golden Bears. Elms would never have a lead in the opening set as the Blazers continue to look for their first win of the season. Léa Barber would pick up her first kill of the afternoon against Elms to continue to grow Western New England's lead. The Golden Bears lead would continue to grow as Hawes, Barber, and Morgan Bonin would get on the board as the Golden Bears took a 16-9 lead. Back-to-back kills from Bonin and Geist would help WNE take a double-digit lead, while Hawes would smash down the final three kills of the opening set for the Golden Bears, giving WNE a 25-13 opening set victory. The Golden Bears grabbed 17 kills in the opening set while making just two attacking errors and hit .556 as a team.

The Golden Bears would get off to a quick 2-0 start to open the second set as an attack from Elms would be blocked down by Isabelle Petty while the Golden Bears senior would smash a kill down to give the blue and gold the opening two-point lead. Elms would battle in the second set, taking their first lead of the match at 4-3 when Victoria Solis would put down a kill. From there, the Golden Bears would grab five straight points to go ahead 8-4, as Becca Mayer would produce two service aces in the sequence, giving Western New England an 8-4 lead. Western New England's lead would continue to climb as four straight kills would give the Golden Bears a 15-8 lead. Alissa Hawes would lead Western New England with three kills, while Taylor Geist would continue to help Western New England on the offensive end with a kill of her own. Elms would fight back, however, grabbing their largest run of the season, cutting WNE's eight-point lead into a one-point lead as a kill, two attacking errors for WNE and two service aces would put the score at 16-15 in favor of Western New England. The Golden Bears would quickly get those points back, getting six points in a row to force a timeout by Elms. Isabelle Petty and Hawes would grab kills in the sequence on assists from Taylor Geist to take a 22-15 lead. Elms would try to get back into the match again though Western New England would finish off the Blazers as Madison Satuss would set up Petty for her fifth kill of the match, giving Western New England a 25-18 second set victory. Western New England grabbed 14 more kills in the second set as a team while attacking at a .321%.

The third set opened with a kill from Elms, though that would be the only lead that the Blazers would have in the third set, as the Golden Bears would take the next five points and never look back. Rachel Critz would come away with two kills in the five-straight-point sequence for Western New England to take an early 5-1 lead. WNE continued to put the pressure on Elms, getting another kill from Critz while Ava Cariddi and Alyzza Alecia would serve with excellence, giving WNE an 8-3 lead. Elms would respond with three points of their own before Western New England would begin their large run, a run that saw nine of ten points go in favor of the Golden Bears, forcing an Elms timeout with WNE leading 18-8. Morgan Bonin, Yemayma Molina, and Ava Cariddi would pick up kills in the stretch run, helping Western New England expand their lead. Elms would attempt a comeback, picking up four of five straight points to close Western New England's lead, though the lead would be too large for Elms to complete a full comeback as Deana Baez would pick up a service ace and set up Rachel Critz for the final points of the match, giving Western New England a 25-16 victory and a 3-0 match victory. WNE made another 14 kills in the third set while hitting .121 as a team. The Golden Bears picked up four service aces in the final set.

After the game, Lein commented on the play of Hawes, who put together 25 kills on 51 attacks in the two matches combined today. "Alissa is a phenomenal athlete. She is really settling in to her outside hitter role, as she spent most of last year on the right side. She leads by example and her natural athleticism coupled with her dedication to the game have been monumental in our success this year."

Inside the Lines:

As a team, Western New England picked up 45 kills in the win over Elms while attacking 88 times. The team hit .318 in the match.
Alissa Hawes was the lone player in the match to reach double figures in kills as the Tupelo native collected 14 in the victory.
Taylor Geist picked up 31 assists to lead all players, while Becca Mayer's 13 digs led all players.
Rachel Critz came alive in the third set for WNE, attempting six attacks, picking up six kills.

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