SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (September 13, 2025) – The Western New England women's volleyball team could not come up with a win in their home opener on Saturday, hosting both Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and Keene State College in a tri-match, falling 3-1 to WPI and 3-0 to Keene State. 

Records:

• Western New England: 3-7
• WPI: 6-3
• Keene State: 4-5

How it Happened: vs WPI

First Set: 

• A fast start for WPI put the Engineers ahead 4-1 in the match. The Golden Bear quickly came back, however, grabbing kills from Rachel Critz and Léa Barber while the duo evened the match with a block, tying the score at 5-5. The Golden Bears would then come up with three straight points, notching a pair of kills from Charlei Henkel on assists from Madison Stauss, giving the Golden Bears a 10-8 lead. 
• WPI took their lead back at 12-11 following a service ace. A back-and-forth affair would start to go WPI's way, coming up with six of seven points down the stretch to take a 19-15 lead. The pesky Golden Bears would get back within a point after another Henkel kill. With the match tied at 21, WPI would score four of the next six points, including a kill from Bridget Spees to end the match and take a 25-23 victory over WNE to take a 1-0 lead. 
• WNE hit 11 kills in the set but had nine attacking errors. WPI picked up 12 kills and hit. 194% for the set. 

Second Set:

• The opening rallies went back and forth until WPI pulled ahead with five of six points for a 12–7 lead. 
• WNE wouldn't be able to find their offensive game until late in the second set after WPI took their biggest lead of the match at 18-11. Evelyn Taylor fooled the Engineers with a kill to put the Golden Bears back on the scoreboard. WNE pressured WPI with seven of eight points, including three kills from Henkel and one from Leah Warren, getting back within three points, 22-19. Despite the effort, the Golden Bears would fall 25-20 in the set, trailing 2-0 in the match. 
• WNE hit well from the floor, picking up 12 kills and just three errors but WPI was also superb from the floor, hitting .351% overall. 

Third Set:

• The Engineers opened the set with a pair of points but Rachel Critz bounced back with the next two points on a pair of kills to even the match at five-all. 
• WPI would use another big run, six of seven points to extend their lead, taking a 12-9 advantage but the Golden Bears fought back, getting another kill from Critz while Critz and Warren would jump up for a block, tying the score at 12. The two teams then traded small runs, with WPI leading 20-19. 
• The final six of seven points of the set belonged to Western New England. Four attacking errors from WPI put them behind while Madison Stauss and Lauren Chagnon picked up service aces to give WNE the 25-21 lead, though still trailing 2-1 overall in the match. The Golden Bears collected ten kills in the set and took advantage of seven WPI errors. 

Fourth Set:

• WNE scored first, but WPI responded with six straight points and nine of the next 10 for a 9–2 lead. The Golden Bears would look to get back into the match any way they could but were not able to do so, coming up with a 25-13 loss and 3-1 match loss. 
• WPI notched 16 kills, a match high, to take down the Golden Bears. 

Inside the Lines:

• As a team the Golden Bears hit .231% from the floor. Rachel Critz picked up 13 kills in the match to lead the team. Charlei Henkel was in double figures with 11 kills.
• WPI was efficient, picking up 53 kills and hitting .245% from the floor. 
• The Golden Bears fall to WPI for the first time since 2017. 

How it Happened: vs. Keene State

First Set: 

• Keene State opened the match with the first six points before WNE's offense began with Katie Garland putting down a kill and Lauren Chagnon picking up a service ace. WNE would get back within one when Léa Barber picked up back-to-back service aces, still trailing 8-7. 
• The opening set went back and forth, with Keene State itching out to a lead following four of five points going down to lead 14-10. Western New England evened the match on Léa Barber's service, getting a kill from Barber and two from Rachel Critz to tie the score at 18. WNE's Ariana Barbosa came up with a kill that saw WNE take a 20-19 lead. 
• From there the Owls would find their game and ripped off four of the final five points, giving the Owls a 25-22 opening set win. The Golden Bears picked up 11 kills but had seven errors while KSC collected ten kills and had just three errors.

Second Set:

• The Owls once again came out firing, collecting the first four of five points before Western New England saw Deana Baez fool KSC with back-to-back kills while Léa Barber and Rachel Critz stuffed Keene at the net, leading 7-5. 
• The match of runs saw the match tie at 12 following a kill from Brianna Manes. The Golden Bears would again be the first team to 20 points after Morgan Bonin and Critz got up for a block to put WNE ahead 20-17. From there, eight of the last ten points would favor Keene State as the Owls wrapped up the second set with another 25-22 victory to lead 2-0 in the match. 
• Despite hitting .289% in the set, WNE would fall behind. KSC had seven attacking errors but still came up with the set victory. 

Third Set:

• The third and final set saw Keene State once again come out on top to begin the set, leading 3-0 quickly. KSC eventually took an 11-3 lead at the Golden Bears could not get any rhythm going early on. Four straight points would bring Western New England back into the match, with Leah Warren, Léa Barber, and Brianna Manes coming up with kills to bring the score to 13-8 in favor of KSC. 
• The Owls stayed on the attack in the third set and continued to score. Three straight points from KSC at 18-13 saw the Owls take a 21-13 lead and would eventually come around for the three set victory, winning the third set 25-18, sweeping WNE. 

Inside the Lines:

• The Golden Bears could not find their offense on Saturday, hitting .190% for the match. Rachel Critz led Western New England with ten kills while Charlei Henkel picked up ten, as well. 
• Keene State was efficient, hitting .231% for the match in the sweep. Gigi Stake and Mariana Miller each had nine kills. 
• KSC is the second Little East Conference institution to sweep WNE in straight sets this week. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The Golden Bears will look to bounce back with a non-conference road match on Wednesday, September 17 at 6:00 PM at Westfield State University.