Volleyball Falls to Westfield State in MASCAC Tournament Finals

Westfield, Mass. - The second seeded Framingham State University volleyball team was defeated by top seed Westfield State University 3-1 in the finals of the 2019 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Tournament this evening at the Woodward Center.

THE BASICS:

- Scores:   Westfield State 3, Framingham State 1 (25-10, 19-25, 25-14, 25-20)

- Records: Framingham State (18-12), Westfield State (14-16)

- Location:  Athletic Center – Framingham, Mass.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• With the victory, The Owls receives the MASCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III national tournament.  Their site and opponent will be announced on an NCAA.com selection show on Monday at 12:30 p.m.
• Sophomore Shawn Crowley (Billerica, Mass.) was named Tournament MVP as she tallied 18 kills in the championship match with a .385 hitting percentage to go along with 15 digs.
• The Rams were led by 14 kills and 12 digs from sophomore Brandee Thomas (North Kingstown, RI), while freshman Hailey Sanders (Franklin, Mass.) added 10 kills and four blocks.
• Junior Brandey Rodriguez (Lawrence, Mass.) added eight kills and five digs, while sophomore Payton Hodsdon (Somersworth, NH) finished with five kills.
• Defensively, the Rams were led by 25 digs from sophomore Alyssa Cafarelli (Peoria, AZ), while senior Deirdre Fay (Cornwall, NY) finished with 13.
• Junior Morgan Failla (Providence, RI) chipped in 37 set assists and six digs on the day.
• Ashley Crowley (Billerica, Mass.) finished with 13 kills and Starkey nine for the Owls.  Senior setter Ally Rega (Chelmsford, Mass.) finished with 47 assists, while senior libero Lizzie Taylor (Medfield, Mass.) led the Owls with 34 digs and served three aces. 
• In the decisive fourth set, Westfield State led 8-7, then scored on block from Brianna Starkey (Rockland, Mass.).  The Owls then received a tip kill from Natasha Belardo (Springfield, Mass.) to start to pull away. 
• Westfield was up 15-8 and forced a Framingham timeout.   Another Belardo kill pushed the lead to 17-8, before Framingham trimmed the lead to 17-10 prompting a time out from the Owls.
• Out of the time out Ashley Crowley delivered back to back kills from the left side to push the Westfield lead to 19-11.
• Shawna Crowley added a pair of kills to put Westfield up 22-16.
• Framingham got a service ace from Deirdre Fay to cut the lead to 23-19, prompting another Westfield State time out.
• Finally, with Framingham serving down 24-20, Ashley Crowley delivered a surprise two hand push attack deep into the empty left corner for the match winner.