Owls Drop Five-Set Match to Western New England

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State sophomore Bridgette McAndrews (Longmeadow, Mass.) supplied a team-high ten digs, but the Owls fell short in a five-set match at Western New England University on Thursday night. Westfield won two of the first three sets but were unable to close out the match, dropping the final two sets to the Golden Bears (25-12, 18-25, 25-23, 12-25, 6-15).

The Owls opened the match by scoring nine of the first ten points, including a pair of service aces by Julia Dangel-Garcia (Ashland, Mass.). The early separation was all Westfield needed to close out the first set comfortably as the Owls scored the final five points of the set to take the early advantage.

The second set started out back-and-forth with both teams splitting the first 22 points. The Golden Bears ripped off the first significant run of the set as a Hailey Sell (Glen Allen, Va.) service ace capped off an 8-1 run for Western New England, giving them a 19-12 lead. The Owls would chip away at the deficit, trimming the Golden Bear lead to four, but Western New England was able to close the frame on an Alissa Hawes (Tupelo, Miss.) kill.

Set three began with a pair of kills from Shawna Crowley (Billerica, Mass.) as the Owls jumped out to an early five-point lead, 9-4. Another spurt off the service game of Sarah Bingham (Reno, Nev.) gave the Owls a 17-8 lead which was finished off by a Julia Bartiet (Cheshire, Conn.) kill and a ball handling error by WNE.

Western New England charged back into the set, scoring six of the next seven points to cut the Owls lead to just four. With the Owls inching towards set point, the Golden Bears rallied off four additional points as Yemayma Molina (Lawrence, Mass.) and Liz Long (East Hartford, Conn.) tallied bookend kills, making it a 23-22 Owls lead. Both teams traded points, then a Bartiet slam proved to be the difference as Westfield came out victorious in a tightly contested frame.

The Golden Bears owned the fourth set, beginning the frame by compiling the first five points. With the tally at 10-5, Western New England registered ten of the next 11 points to ultimately even the score at two sets apiece.

The swing set was controlled by the Golden Bears as well, with WNE scoring 15 of the 21 points in the frame. Sell punctuated the match with a kill, giving Western New England their third straight victory.

Seven different Owls recorded kills in the contest, with McAndrews complimenting her team-leading ten kills with ten digs. Shawna Crowley compiled seven kills and 15 digs. Dangel-Garcia logged a double-double with a team-high 16 assists and 16 digs. Allie Hill (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) also registered 16 digs.

Hawes led all players with 15 kills as three Golden Bears totaled double-digit kills. Sell assisted on 46 of 51 total helpers for Western New England. Long compiled a game-high 27 digs.

Westfield State will travel to Rivier University on Saturday for a tri-match as the Owls will face-off against Salve Regina at 1:00 P.M. followed by the hosts at 3:00 P.M.