Box Score BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Women's Volleyball punched its ticket to its fifth straight Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship Match with a 3-1 victory over Western New England University Thursday evening.
With the win, the Hawks will host Endicott College Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Endicott earned a 3-1 victory over Salve Regina University earlier this evening.
Western New England held the momentum early, beginning the match with a 10-3 run in the first set. The Hawks would ultimately come back to tie the game at 13 and again at 15. However, the Golden Bears pulled away from the Hawks, using a 5-1 run to build a four-point advantage. Roger Williams was able to come within two with WNE holding set point, but the Golden Bears closed out the game with a kill by Carolyn Hajdusek (Northfield, N.H.) to take the set 25-22.
The Hawks came out strong in the first set, taking three of the first four points of the game. RWU then built its 3-1 lead into a commanding 11-point advantage (15-4) with a 12-3 run. The Hawks would eventually take a 20-7 lead, leading to a Golden Bear timeout. After the timeout, RWU wrapped up the set with a 5-2 run, capped off by a block assist by
Kristen Boyer (Ephrata, Pa.) and
Brittany McMullen (Lancaster, Pa.).
In the third set, the Hawks opened with a 6-1 run that put Western New England in a hole that was difficult for the Golden Bears to overcome. WNE would score three straight but eventually watch its deficit climb to eight, trailing 7-15. The Hawks maintained its lead throughout the rest of the set, with a Golden Bear attack error giving RWU the 25-16 win.
The fourth set saw both team trade points early until the Hawks broke a 4-4 tie with a 9-3 run, leading to a WNE timeout. The Hawks eventually stretched its lead to eight, going up 22-14 and appeared poised for an easy win in the set. However, the Golden Bears would not go down without a fight, as WNE rolled off a 7-1 to pull within three (20-23). However, the Hawks held off Western New England with a kill by
Elizabeth Flaherty (Sloatsburg, N.Y.) for match point, followed by another kill by McMullen for the match.
Krystie Luczynski (Kensington, Conn.) led the Hawks with 16 kills on the evening. Boyer added nine kills, six digs, and seven blocks (three solo, four assists). Flaherty finished with eight kills, 17 digs, and four service aces.
Nicole Weber (Poulsbo, Wash.) and
Alexa Armenti (Dix Hills, N.Y.) handed out 25 and 15 assists, respectively.
Darian Tredennick (Houston, Texas) led all players with 19 digs.
Hajdusek led the Golden Bears with nine kills. Jenna Leuck (Dumont, N.J.) added 12 assists and nine digs, while Grace Kucharski (Avon, Conn.) had a team-high 16 digs for WNE, while Kendra Ouimette (Conway, Mass.) had 11 digs.
Western New England (22-9) will await to see if it receives a bid to the ECAC Tournament next week.
