Hawes, Lange, & Long Lead Golden Bears to Five Set Thriller over Westfield State

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.  (September 15, 2022) – The Western New England women's volleyball team battled it out with the Westfield State University Owls, going the full five. The Golden Bears fought out the win, defeating the Owls 3-2.

Records:

• Western New England: 7-3
• Westfield State: 4-4

How It Happened: The Golden Bears fell behind early in the first set after Westfield State went 5-0. Alissa Hawes started it off picking up her first kill and the first Golden Bear score. The Golden Bears couldn't pick up another one and fell behind 10-1 before they got things going again. A service ace from Liz Long, another kill from Hawes and an attack error the other way closed the scoring gap for the Golden Bears a little, now 10-5. A few errors, kills and aces brought back up the Owls lead, now at double digits 19-9. The Golden Bears fought to keep the Owls from scoring, but Westfield closed out the set going five in a row while keeping WNE at 12, 25-12.

The second set was a closer battle. Westfield scored the first two points and the Golden Bears scored four straight with three kills, two from Kate Lang. The Owls weren't far behind and tied it up, plus a lead score 5-4. It was a game of lead changes until a great kill from Becca Mayer on a recovery play. This began an eight-point takeover for WNE who had a 18-11 lead before the Owls scored again. Westfield St. fought to bring it back with four points but a kill from Hawes, a series of three consecutive points, and another kill from Hawes closed out set two with the Golden Bears on top 25-18 and sets tied up at one a piece.

Westfield scored the first three, in set three, then the Golden Bears for two, followed by two from the Owls who had the lead. They went on a few small runs that increased their lead to 18-11. They went for three while holding the Owls to one until a few WNE errors increased Westfield's lead back to five and two points away from closing out the set. The Golden Bears weren't going down without a fight they put together a series of four and had the set within one 23-22. An attack error from WNE gave the Owls match point but a kill from Long had it back within one. The Owls slammed a kill down to win the third, up 2-1.

Set four was all Golden Bears, two kills from Long, an ace from Hailey Sell, a kill from Hawes, and another Sell ace gave them a 5-0 advantage. The Owls got on the scoreboard and exchanged some blows back and forth. That did not stop another Golden Bear run for seven. They now had a 10-point lead 16-6. Westfield scored but WNE was on fire by set four. They had another series of kills and aces with a 20-6 lead, five away from closing it out and tying up the match. The Owls had a few good runs that stopped the Golden bears from getting a clean end to the set but they eventually got there after a Westfield State attack error, 25-12.

The first fifth setter of the season for the Golden Bears played out how they needed it to. The Owls scored first from an attack error but they didn't have answers for the Golden Bears in set five. The Golden Bears earned 15 with eight kills and two service aces. They held the Owls to six points, three of them coming from Golden Bear errors. After a tight battle WNE pulled out a great win against the Owls, three sets to two.

Inside the Numbers:

• The Golden Bears ended the match with 54 kills, 51 assists, 99 digs, and two Blocks while hitting .124 percent.
• The Owls ended the match with 33 kill, 33 assists, 88 digs, and five blocks, while hitting .055 percent
• Alissa Hawes led Western New England with 15 kills plus 17 digs and two assists.
• Liz Long added with 12 digs plus 27 digs and a service ace.  
• Hailey Sell contributed with 46 assists, eight digs, and five service aces. Becca Mayer had 21 digs with four service aces.

Up Next: The Golden Bears travel to Worcester, Mass. this Saturday, September 17, for another tri-match hosted by Clark University. The Golden Bears will first face Elmira College at 1 p.m. and then Clark at 3 p.m.