AMHERST, Mass. (September 6, 2025) – The Western New England women's volleyball team picked up a 3-0 sweep of Saint Joseph's University (Maine) in the afternoon match of the day, notching their first sweep of the season but the Golden Bears would fall in four sets to close out the night to the hosting Mammoths of Amherst College, dropping a 3-1 decision to split the evening's tournament matches. 

Records:

• Western New England: 3-4
• Saint Joseph's College of Maine: 2-3
• Amherst College: 3-1

How it Happened (vs. USJ Maine)

First Set:

• USJ got out to an opening 11-3 lead over the Golden Bears, picking up a pair of kills from Greta Mackintosh and Emily Mendelson to get the Monks rolling early. The Golden Bears had fight in them, seeing themselves down by as many as nine points in the opening set and would roar back, getting excellent service from first-year Charlei Henkel. 
• Down 16-7 in the match, WNE would come up with six straight points to break down USJ's lead to just three. Henkel would pick up a kill and a service ace while Léa Barber would get on the board with a smash. Western New England continued to score as Rachel Critz came up with a kill to get WNE within one while Lauren Chagnon picked up back-to-back service aces, giving the Golden Bears an 18-17 lead. 
• USJ ripped off three straight points from there, leading 20-18 but another spurt from Western New England, seven points in the final eight of the opening set, saw the Golden Bears come out of set one on top. Leah Warren put down three straight kills while Henkel finished off the set with a kill from Deana Baez, giving WNE the 1-0 lead. WNE hit .256% from the floor in the opening set, ripping down 13 kills overall.

Second Set:

• Saint Joseph's found the first six points of the set to take an early lead on the Golden Bears. Despite that,  WNE would get back within one point, trailing 7-6 after Kate Garland, Léa Barber, and Charlei Henkel all had kills while a pair of service aces from Lauren Chagnon would get WNE right back into the set. 
• A back-and-forth second set saw both teams put together runs with Western New England clinging onto a narrow lead. The Monks led 22-21 following five points in seven overall but the Golden Bears would lock down the final four points of the set to come up with a big second set victory. 
• In the final four points, a pair of kills from Warren would go down while Ariana Barbosa picked up one of her own and Laney Melvin would set down a service ace, giving WNE a 25-22 win in the set, leading 2-0 in the match. The Golden Bears put down 12 kills in the set and had five service aces overall. 

Third Set:

• For the first time in the match, WNE would run out to the better start to begin play, coming up with an 8-4 lead following seven straight points early on. Three USJ attacking errors would help the Golden Bears in the early stages but five straight points from the Monks following would give USJ a 9-8 lead. 
• The two teams went back and forth as WNE tried to complete the sweep over USJ and collect their first three-set victory of the season. Down 16-13, WNE roared back with the next five of six points, getting good service from Lauren Chagnon. 
• The Monks picked up five of the next six points, but Western New England would not go away, getting to match point, 25-24 but the Monks would flip that into set point, picking up a pair of kills to lead 25-24. Western New England would take over and finish off the match with the final three points and would win the set 27-25 and the match 3-0. The third set saw WNE hit .161% from the floor, collecting nine kills and four service aces. 

Inside the Lines:

• WNE was strong on the block on Saturday afternoon, totaling seven blocks in the match. Rachel Critz picked up a solo and two assists while Léa Barber notched a pair of assists, as well. 
• Barber led WNE with 11 kills in the match, hitting .139%. Leah Warren picked up nine kills on 16 attacks, hitting .438% overall to spark WNE's win. 
• Lauren Chagnon collected five service aces and 15 digs overall in the match to lead the way. 
• Deana Baez and Madison Stauss were both in double-figures in set assists, collecting 15 and 13, respectively. 

How It Happened (vs. Amherst College): 
Set One:

• The Golden Bears opened the first set with a quick seven points on the points, taking advantage of four attacking errors from the Mammoths and leading 7-4. Léa Barber and Leah Warren both had early kills for Western New England overall. 
• WNE kept its lead through the midway point of the set, seeing more outstanding service from Lauren Chagnon, which led to a six-point lead, 16-10 in the set in favor for WNE. Amherst would close the gap with five straight points from there to trail by just a point but four straight for the Golden Bears gave the visitors a 21-16 lead. 
• WNE was able to close out the opening set with a win, 25-21, following another kill from Barber, leading 1-0 in the match. In total, WNE sent down nine kills and had just two attacking errors. Amherst picked up 12 kills but had 11 attack errors in the set. 

Second Set:

• The two teams would play close through the first ten points of the second set with Abby Thomas helping set up another Barber kill and picking up a service ace, keeping the score at 5-5. Amherst would slowly begin to pull away before Chareli Henkel's back-to-back kills put the Mammoths ahead just 10-8. 
• The Mammoths would find their game at 14-11 and ripped off the next nine points of the match to take control of the set and would come up with a big 25-13 win to even the match at one. 
• WNE continued to hit the ball well, adding nine more kills but Amherst would overpower the Golden Bears with 14 kills and just two errors in the set, hitting .462% from the floor to take it. 

Third Set:

• The two teams would trade points as Western New England would hold a 9-7 lead early on in the match. Rachel Critz picked up a kill for WNE in the sequence. 
• WNE and Amherst would go point-for-point during the midway point of the set as neither team could gain any ground on one another until the Mammoths dropped three straight points with the match tied 17-17 to take a 20-17 lead. 
• Overall, Amherst took the final eight of eleven points of the second set, getting two straight kills from Sofia Camilo and would get past WNE 25-20 and lead 2-1 in the match. Amherst dusted off its bad hitting in the opening at and dropped a match-high 16 kills in the third set to overwhelm the Golden Bears.

Fourth Set:

• The Golden Bears opened the set with five of the first six points as four errors from Amherst would see WNE get the early lead. Amherst would answer with the next four points to even the score at five. Neither team would lead by more than three as the match got to the midway point of the fourth set. 
• Léa Barber, Morgan Bonin, and Charlei Henkel dropped a span of three straight kills to even the score at 12 which would then spark a run for the Golden bears of scoring five straight points shortly after to take a commanding 22-18 lead. Lauren Changnon continued her excellent service as WNE looked to force a fifth set. 
• With set point at 24-21, the Golden Bears would fail to grab their final point of the set and saw Amherst bounce back with five straight points to close out the match, 26-24 and would beat Western New England by a final score of 3-1 overall in the match. 

Inside the Lines:

• The Golden Bears were solid despite the loss, hitting .215% from the floor, collecting 41 kills and just 15 errors for the match. 
• Amherst dropped 56 kills on WNE and had 22 errors, hitting .264% from the floor. 
• Léa Barber led WNE with 16 kills in the match and also had 11 digs and three blocks. Rachel Critz led WNE with six total blocks. 
• Abby Thomas (19) and Deana Baez (17) were both in double figures in set assists. 

Coach's Corner:
Coach Lein had this to say on the weekend's tournament. "We had a rough start against Oswego but definitely picked it up the second day. It was fun getting the first win under our belt against St. Joes and then compete against a very strong Amherst team. Being so young and being one point away from pushing a fifth set was very exciting. Going forward into this week, we know our job is to continue to grow and develop as our core is still very young. We have 3 great tests ahead of us and I'm excited to see how we compete," Lein stated.
Up Next on the Schedule:

• One final match on the road will take place before the home opener for the Golden Bears as WNE will be at UMass-Boston on Wednesday, September 10 at 6:00 PM before hosting WPI and Keene State College in a tri-match for the home opener on Saturday, September 13, beginning at 11:00 AM.