BOSTON, Mass. – Junior Maureen Pollet (Dix Hills, N.Y.) paced the Bears' offense with a match-high 12 kills and senior Devyn Frank (Mystic, Conn.) finished just behind with 11 kills as Western New England University ousted host Wentworth 3-0 in Commonwealth Coast Conference play Tuesday night.
Wentworth was able to pace WNEU battling to a 7-7 score in the early going of the first set. The Leopards fell behind but were able to cut the deficit to two at 15-17 off a Michelle Hobbs (Northwood, N.H.) kill. Hobbs finished a well-rounded night with 6 kills and 14 digs. The Leopards were not able to cut the lead any further and the Golden Bears capitalized on Wentworth miscues en route to a 25-19 victory in the first set.
Both teams came out firing on all cylinders as Wentworth and Western New England would continue to trade leads for the entirety of the second set. Wentworth rallied with four points in a row off Shannon Ponce's (San Jose, California) run behind the service line to make it 17-16. The Leopards would tie the game up again at 23-23. Neither team seemed to gain the edge as the set would be tied again at 25. Both teams traded points until being knotted at 28. The Leopards had multiple chances to finish the game but the Golden Bears proved to be too tough and took it in extras winning 30-28. Wentworth saw its offense out hit Western New England .222 to .183 but still were unable to pull even.
The Black and Gold battled in the third set and again saw themselves tied at 7-7. From that point on it was all Western New England as the Golden Bears raced out to a 20-12 lead. Wentworth was never able to cut the deficit below six and fell in the third and deciding set 25-16.
The Golden Bears were led on defense by sophomore Grace Kucharski (Avon, Conn.) with a match-high 17 digs. Senior setter Heather Mears (Amherst, Mass.) kicked in a match leading 36 assists and 3 block assists while adding 10 digs.
The Leopards were lead on offense by senior Nicole Wetherbee (Pembroke, Mass.) who contributed 10 kills and just missed a double-double by adding nine digs. Senior Julie Rahilly (Nashua, NH.) chipped in 8 kills while recording 14 digs and two aces. Sophomore libero Sam Curran (Quincy, Mass.) led all Leopards with 15 digs while Ponce recorded 23 assists.
With the win Western New England improves its impressive record to 14-2 and 4-1 in CCC play. The Golden Bears will travel to Framingham State for a match on Thursday Night
Wentworth falls to 7-8 on the year and 2-2 in league play. The Leopards are back in action on the road Saturday for a tri-match at Framingham State where they will face the host team and Eastern Nazarene. The match against Eastern Nazarene will not be counted in CCC standings as the two teams will meet in a conference match to close out the regular season on October 27.
