WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State dropped a four set match to Simmons (25-17, 22-25, 25-19, 30-28) in the Woodward Center on Tuesday, Sept. 20. The Owls fall to 4-7 on the season while the Sharks get back to even at 4-4.

Jayla Parnell (Oregon City, Ore./ Clackamas HS) and Sydney Iannantuono (East Lyme, Conn./ East Lyme) both registered double-doubles in the win. Parnell landed a game-high 25 kills and pitched in 17 digs, Iannantuono grabbed a game-high 19 digs and connected for 18 kills. The Shark attack was fueled by Kat Simeonidis' (Lake Mary, Fla./ Bishop Moore Catholic) 42 assists.

Ashley Crowley (Billerica, Mass./ Billerica) and Bridgette McAndrews (Longmeadow, Mass./ Longmeadow) paced the Owls offensively with 15 and 10 kills respectively. Allie Hill (St. Clair Shores, Mich./ Lakeview) had a team-leading 12 digs in the setback.

The teams split the first two sets before Simmons took the third on a pair of Simeonidis aces. Westfield held a late three- point advantage (24-21) in the decisive fourth set before an attack error and three straight Parnell kills flipped the lead to Simmons. Both teams had multiple game-point opportunities in a set that saw nine ties and seven lead changes. A pair of Iannantuono kills down the stretch sealed the win for Simmons.

The Owls get back to conference play on Saturday, Sept. 24 when they host Framingham State at 11:00 a.m. on Family and Champions Weekend. The Sharks return to western Mass. on Friday, Sept. 23 to take on Smith College at 5:00 p.m.