PROVIDENCE, R.I. (October 4, 2025) – The Western New England women's volleyball team fell in a four-set match on Saturday afternoon at the Wildcat Center to the hosting Wildcats of Johnson & Wales University. JWU and WNE were tied at one after two sets, but the Wildcats had the upper hand in the final two sets to come up with a 3-1 victory. 

Records:

• Western New England: 6-11, 1-2 CNE
• Johnson & Wales: 11-5, 2-1 CNE

How it Happened:

First Set:

• JWU came away with the opening four points of the match as the Golden Bears made two attacking errors to start. JWU never relinquished its lead following the opening points of the match. Morgan Bonin collected a service ace to get Western New England back into the set at 9-6, but nine of the next ten points belonged to the Wildcats, including three service aces, giving the home team an 18-7 lead. 
• Léa Barber had Western New England's only two kills in the opening set as the Golden Bears fell 25-14 to begin play. 
• The Golden Bears committed five attacking errors while Johnson & Wales hit .368 for the set. 

Second Set:

• Needing a restart to the match, the second set brought much more success for Western New England as Barber and Rachel Critz opened the set with kills, giving WNE an early lead. At 6-5, WNE then picked up the next four points, led by three-straight aces from Morgan Bonin to extend the lead for the blue and gold, 10-5. 
• The Wildcats punched back to even the match at 11, but seven of the next eight points belonged to the Golden Bears with Barber, Critz, and Adrionne Sharp dropping down kills to take a 18-12 lead. Johnson & Wales tried fighting back, trailing 22-17, but the final three points of the set belonged to the Golden Bears, including a kill from Charlei Henkel and another service ace from Bonin, giving WNE the 25-17 second-set victory to even the match at one. 
• WNE hit a proficient .320 for the second set, producing 11 kills and just three errors. 

Third Set:

• The Wildcats scored five of the first six points in the third set, opening with three kills and taking advantage of a pair of errors for the Golden Bears. Western New England fought back quickly, however, seeing JWU pick up four errors to lead 7-6. 
• From there, it would be all Wildcats as the hosts got out to a big lead and never looked back in the set. Five straight points and nine of 11 points went JWU's way to lead 15-9, and then another run of eight of the final ten points of the set gave Johnson & Wales a 25-16 victory in the third set to take a 2-1 lead in the match. 
• Western New England picked up just six kills and had six errors in the set while JWU thrived with a match-high 15 kills and a .270 attacking percentage.

Fourth Set:

• The fourth set opened with back-and-forth action, as both teams recorded points in the early goings. Skylar Winchester produced two straight aces for JWU and served on a WNE attacking error that gave the Wildcats a quick run to lead 7-3. JWU began pulling away from Western New England in the set and took seven of eight points at the midway point of the match, leading by double digits, 18-8. 
• The Golden Bears tried to get back into the match with kills by Adrionne Sharp, Charlei Henkel, and Léa Barber, but the run from JWU was too much, seeing the Wildcats outlast Western New England by a final score of 25-17 in the fourth set to take a 3-1 match victory. 
• WNE had just six more kills in the fourth set while JWU continued to fly with 13 kills and a .233 attack percentage. 

Inside the Lines:

• Léa Barber and Charlei Henkel combined for 18 kills, nine apiece in the loss. 
• Western New England hit .056 for the match, producing just 25 kills in the match and 19 errors. 
• JWU found its mark early and never backed down, hitting .252 for the match, smashing 48 kills and just 19 errors. 
• The Golden Bears recorded nine service aces for the match, led by Morgan Bonin, who had five. 
• Deana Baez and Madison Stauss combined for 24 of the WNE 25 set assists in the match.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• WNE returns to the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center on Wednesday, October 8 at 7:00 PM to host CNE opponent Gordon College.