SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (October 1, 2025) – Coming off a 3-2 Conference of New England victory last night over Nichols College, the Western New England women's volleyball team was right back in action on Wednesday night from the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center, but did not get the same result, falling 3-1 to the Chargers from Colby-Sawyer College in non-conference action. 

Records:

• Western New England: 6-10
• Colby-Sawyer College: 6-7

How it Happened:

First Set:

• Colby-Sawyer opened up a 6-2 lead to begin play in the first set, getting four early kills, two from Claire Rocky. Rachel Critz and Charlei Henkel got Western New England rolling and kept the Golden Bears close as the Chargers built a four-point lead, 12-8 near the midway point of the opening set. 
• The Golden Bears responded with six of seven points, led by a pair of kills from Critz while Henkel and Katie Garland got on the board with kills, giving the blue and gold a 14-13 lead. Colby-Sawyer then dropped down five of the next six points to re-take the lead, 18-15, and continued with three of the next four to build a five-point lead, 21-16, looking like they'd pull out the opening set. 
• Western New England fought back as Léa Barber put down a kill to get WNE back within two, 21-19, but the Chargers charged ahead with the next three and notched the final point of the set on a kill, defeating WNE 25-21 in the opening set. CSC hit .171 from the floor in the set, collecting 13 kills, while WNE dropped down 11 kills, hitting .108. 

Second Set:

• Western New England had the first two points of the second set, including a service ace from Lauren Chagnon. Colby-Sawyer then came up with eight of the next 11 points to take a three-point lead, 9-6. The Golden Bears did not go away, getting kills from Morgan Bonin, Charlei Henkel, and Adrionne Sharp to stay in the set, trailing 12-11. 
• From there, Colby-Sawyer began swinging hard, dropping in six of eight points, including five errors from the Golden Bears, which set them back. WNE was not able to get back into the set from there, getting no more than two points in a row following, as the Chargers took the two sets to none lead following a 25-19 second set win. 
• WNE hit just over .000 for the set, getting just nine kills. The blue and gold produced four service errors and seven attacking errors to put themselves behind. 

Third Set:

• Looking to extend the match, Western New England opened with five of the first seven points, taking advantage of four Colby-Sawyer attacking errors and picked up a block by Sharp and Barber to get out to the early lead. The Chargers responded with seven of nine points and took an 11-9 lead. Brenna Piller led CSC on the run with a pair of kills while Bree Bacon set up the Chargers for success. 
• Western New England came back with three kills from Charlei Henkel, who also produced a block, while Adrionne Sharp was every bit of sharp, producing a block and kill, seeing the blue and gold collect an 18-14 lead. 
• Western New England was able to put the Chargers away with kills from Léa Barber and Deana Baez, who surprised the Chargers on a tip over the net to secure the 25-20 win for WNE, extending the match to four sets. The Golden Bears recorded 14 kills and hit .243 from the floor. Colby-Sawyer struggled in the third set, producing nine kills and eight attack errors. 

Fourth Set:

• The Chargers ripped off four points in a row following a 2-1 Western New England lead to begin play in the fourth set, but back-to-back service aces from Léa Barber aided the Golden Bears to a 6-5 lead in the first 11 points of the set. The Chargers roared back with points to take a five-point lead at 15-10 as the visitors, who also played a conference match last night, looked to close out the set in four sets. 
• The Golden Bears had other plans, however, seeing Rachel Critz, Charlei Henkel, and Léa Barber led WNE back into the match with kills, trailing 19-18. 
• Colby-Sawyer jumped back into a three-point lead following three kills, two from Addison Sasnett, to take a 23-20 lead, two points from winning the set. Western New England picked up the next three points, tying the match as Critz and Barber dropped in a kill each, and then combined for a block to tie the match at 23. CSC earned the next point, moving the match to match point, but two points in a row from WNE turned the tables on the Chargers, as WNE was just one point away from forcing their second straight fifth-set match in 24 hours. The Chargers picked up the final three points, however, two of which came on WNE errors, winning the fourth set 27-25 and the match, 3-1. 
• Neither team hit particularly well in the fourth set as CSC produced ten kills and had five attacking errors on 59 attempts. WNE collected 11 kills but had ten errors in the set. 

Inside the Lines:

• Charlei Henkel dropped down 16 kills for Western New England in the loss to lead the team, hitting .167. The Centerton, Arkansas, native collected 17 digs and three service aces in the match. 
• Léa Barber had nine kills for WNE and a team-high 20 digs. 
• Colby-Sawyer libero Madison Sinatro produced 29 digs for the team while Jules Larock had 21. Kamryn Brakemeier led the Chargers with 13 kills and a .229 hitting percentage.
• Western New England had seven blocks in the loss, three from Adrionne Sharp. 
• This is the first meeting between the two teams since 2019. Colby-Sawyer has taken the last two meetings. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The Golden Bears head to Johnson & Wales University on Saturday, October 4 at 2:00 PM for Conference of New England action.