Women's Volleyball 10/24/2012 9:55:00 PM

Volleyball upset on Senior Night

Box Score BRISTOL, R.I. – Western New England spoiled Senior Night for the Roger Williams University Women's Volleyball Wednesday evening with a 3-1 (25-23, 17-25, 25-22, 25-15) win against the Hawks.

The setback for RWU was the team's first conference loss in 27 matches, spanning over the past three seasons. The Hawks' last CCC loss came on October 17, 2009, when Colby-Sawyer defeated the Hawks 3-2. In addition, the loss snaps a 29-match home winning streak, dating back to 2010.

Prior to the match, the program's five seniors, Kelsee Loche (Millis, Mass.), Kelsey Twarog (Barkhamsted, Conn.), Emily Lebowitz (Coventry, Conn.), Abby Cunningham (Catasauqua, Pa.), and Kristen Kiefer (Redwood City, Calif.), were honored for their contributions to RWU Volleyball over the past four years.

Once the match started, it became a tight back-and-forth battle early on. The Hawks scored the first three points of the match before Heather Mears (Amherst, Mass.) served up an ace to give WNE a 4-3 lead. Both teams traded points, with back-to-back WNE attack errors giving the Hawks an 8-7 lead. Western New England took back the lead, and stretched their advantage to four 15-11. The Hawks would mount another comeback, tying the game at 18 and later at 23. However, a missed swing by RWU and a kill by Maureen Pollet (Dix Hills, N.Y.) gave the first game to WNE.

In the second game, RWU notched the first two points, jumping out to a quick 4-1 lead. However, WNE pulled back into the game, tying the set at eight apiece. RWU would then utilize an 11-4 run, capped off with a kill by Nicole Weber (Poulsbo, Wash.), to take a commanding 19-12 lead. Cunningham would ultimately notch the set-winning kill to tie the match at one. Over the set, the Hawks hit a match-high .348 while holding WNE to .133 hitting.

The third set saw the Golden Bears open with a 3-0 run before the Hawks came back to grab a 7-4 lead. Western New England would use three consecutive kills by Tyler Singh (Dumond, N.J.) to regain the lead at 9-7. The Hawks continued to remain in the hunt, eventually coming back and tying the set at 20 apiece on a kill by Krystie Luczynski. The key play in the set came with RWU trailing 20-22. Mears dug out a Hawk attack with one arm that bounced back over the net, catching RWU by surprise and dropping in for a point. Western New England would eventually take the set by a 25-22 score.

The final set saw the Golden Bears firing on all cylinders. The team held the Hawks to .024 hitting in the game, while WNE hit at a .225 clip. Western New England opened the match on a 5-1 run and led by as many as 12 at one point (20-8). A bad Hawk set would end up as the match point for the Golden Bears, winning the game 25-15.

Singh had 14 kills in the game, while Emily McGran (Lakewood, Ill.) added 11 kills. Mears finished with a match-high 45 assists, while Grace Kucharski (Avon, Conn.) finished with 17 digs. Inna Sergeychik (West Springfield, Mass.) added seven kills and 21 digs.

Twarog led the Hawks with 15 kills, with Luczynski adding ten. Weber handed out 28 assists, with Lebowitz chipping in with nine assists. Loche dug out 21 balls, with Elizabeth Flaherty (Sloatsburg, N.Y.) going for seven kills and 15 digs. Cunningham finished with three kills, two assists, and three block assists.

Roger Williams (17-10, 6-1 CCC) closes out the regular season on Saturday in a tri-match against Gordon and Southern Maine. Western New England (21-5, 6-1 CCC) hosts Endicott on Saturday as well.

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