AMHERST, Mass. (September 5, 2025) – The Western New England women's volleyball team notched 11 errors in the opening set and 30 attacking errors in the match as they fell to open the Amherst College Fall Smash Tournament on Friday night at the hands of the Lakers of SUNY Oswego by a final score of 3-1. 

Records:

• Western New England: 2-3
• SUNY Oswego: 4-0

How It Happened:

First Set:

• Léa Barber opened the opening set with the first kill of the match which set Westen New England out on the right foot. SUNY Oswego had the next eight points from there, seeing four attacking errors from WNE put themselves behind quickly. Adrionne Sharp put the Golden Bears back on the scoreboard but Oswego was well in control of the early stages of the match. 
• Western New England would not be able to find a rhythm in the opening set as Oswego would go on another scoring run, this time, this time of seven straight points, to take complete control, leading 20-5. Katie Garland picked up a pair of kills for WNE in the final stages of the opening set but it would be too much for WNE to overcome, falling 25-9 in set one. 
• The Golden Bears had 11 attacking errors in the opening set and just six kills, hitting -0.167% from the floor. 

Second Set:

• Despite Oswego opening with three of the first four points in the second set, the blue and gold would quickly battle back, led by their leading attacker in Barber, to come up with an 8-5 lead as Barber would produce four kills early in the set. 
• The match woud stay in Western New England's favor through the midway point until Oswego came back to even the match at 17. From there, WNE ripped off the next six points, including a kill from Charlei Henkel and a service ace from Rachel Critz.  Henkel would put down the final kill of the set to give WNE a 25-19 victory. 
• In what ended up being their best set of the match, WNE women's volleyball dropped down 15 kills and hit .211% overall. Barber put down six kills for WNE while Henkel had three. 

Third Set: 

• Adrionne Sharp and Charlei Henkel notched a block to open the third set to keep the momentum in favor of Western New England. The Golden Bears would lead by two points, 8-6, following a service ace from Laney Melvin but the Lakers would not go away, ripping off five points in a row and 11 of the next 13 points in the set to take an 18-11 lead. 
• The big run from the Lakers would be too much again for Western New England to overcome as Oswego dropped down the final two points in the set to take a 25-16 victory. 
• The Golden Bears notched just six kills in the set while Oswego picked up 15 of their own. Kalley Vugteveen led Oswego with five kills in the set. 

Fourth Set: 

• A pair of service aces in the opening four points of the fourth set for Western New England, one from Charlei Henkel and another from Laney Melvin, to keep the lead in favor of the Golden Bears, 4-3. 
• The Lakers would again come out with a big run, scoring three points in a row twice and seven of the next ten to take a 14-10 lead, led by five kills, including two from Alana Dudzinski. The Golden Bears would not go down without a fight, coming up with six points in a row, seeing four attacking errors from Oswego give the Golden Bears points while Sharp and Barber dropped down kills, giving WNE a 16-14 lead. 
• A back-and-forth fourth set saw Western New England get to set point following a kill from Henkel, 24-23, but it would be Oswego storming back to pick up the next three points to pick up a 26-24 victory in the fourth set and a three sets to one victory over the Golden Bears. 

Inside the Lines:

• Western New England dropped down 37 kills in the match, 15 of those coming in the second set and hit just .053% as a team. Léa Barber came up with a team-high 13 kills in the match while Adrionne Sharp collected ten overall. 
• The Golden Bears recorded ten service aces and six blocks for the match. Oswego hit .209% for the match, picking up 50 kills, combining for 30 of those in the final wo sets, both wins for the Lakers. 
• Kalley Vugteveen picked up a match-high 15 kills for Oswego. Mya Bush recorded 41 set assists, also a match high. Madison Stauss (18) and Abby Thomas (14) were both in double figures in sets for WNE. 
• This was the first all-time meeting between the two teams. 
• The Golden Bears have gone at least four sets in all five matches this season. 

Up Next On the Schedule:

• Western New England will be back in action tomorrow, Saturday, September 6 at 3:00 PM against the University of Saint Joseph (Maine) and again at 5:30 PM against Amherst College to wrap up the Amherst College Fall Smash Tournament.