By Jim Fenton

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University volleyball team has reached double figures in wins for the first time since 2019.

The Bears swept the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, 3-0, on Wednesday night to improve to 10-7.

It marks the first time BSU has won that many matches since going 11-15 five years ago.

The Bears are now 5-1 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference with one match remaining.

BSU defeated MCLA, 25-19, 25-23 and 25-21, making it the seventh time this season they have swept an opponent.

Junior Meaghan Coutu (Brookline, N.H.) paced Bridgewater State with 12 kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Sophomore Lily Welch (Hanson, Mass.) checked in with eight kills, seven digs and two solo blocks, while senior Abigail Reardon (Fairhaven, Mass.) notched six kills and a pair of solo blocks.

Sophomore Xin Ai Robinson (Kaiserslautern, Germany) and senior Bethany Votta (Cumberland, R.I.) combined for 30 of the 38 assists for the Bears.

Robinson led the way with 18 while Votta, who recently became the 10th player in program history to exceed 1,000 career assists, had 12.

Sophomore Ava Crane (Dartmouth, Mass.) contributed nine digs and four kills while sophomore Lilly Misay (New Bedford, Mass.) had seven digs and freshman Charlotte Sullivan (Hyannis, Mass.) chipped in with three blocks to go along with five kills.

Bridgewater recorded eight aces in the match with Crane, Misay and junior Sarah Brogioli (Milford, Mass.) tallying two apiece.

MCLA freshman Addison Decaro had 17 assists and four digs, junior Shannon O'Brien (Unionville, Conn.) had 13 assists and junior Elizabeth Brown (Lee, Mass.) added 14 digs.

There were six ties early in the first set before the Trailblazers took a 10-8 lead. The Bears then went ahead, 13-10, and after they held a 14-13 edge, the lead went to 20-13.

Key plays in that stretch were a pair of kills by junior Meaghan Coutu (Brookline, N.H.), kills by Sullivan and sophomore Lily Welch (Hanson, Mass.) and an ace by Crane.

MCLA was no closer than five the rest of the set, which ended with a kill by Crane.

In the second set, BSU fell behind, 3-0, then opened a 9-7 lead with three straight attack errors helping the Bears.

A Sullivan kill put BSU up, 11-8, then there were ties at 12-12, 13-13, 16-16, 18-18 and 19-19, before the Bears finished off the Trailblazers in the set.

BSU held an early 4-1 lead in the third set, then fell behind, 6-5. There were four ties after that before the Bears moved ahead, 16-11.

Junior Kim Gowell (Durham, N.H.) had a pair of kills while Sullivan and Coutu added a kill each.

MCLA was within 17-15 and stayed within two points before a Gowell kill and an attack error ended the match.

BSU, which is 5-2 on the road, has a pair of non-conference matches on Saturday at Mount Holyoke. The Bears face Mount Holyoke at 11 a.m. and Fisher at 1 p.m.

The regular season ends on Nov. 9 at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

MCLA (8-15, 3-3) plays Albertus Magnus Thursday at 6 p.m.