DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- The visiting Bridgewater State University volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to UMass Dartmouth in a tightly contested non-conference match on Thursday evening at the Tripp Center.
The host Corsairs improve to 4-2 on the season, while the Bears fall to 2-8.
BSU junior libero Cassidy Tyros (Chelmsford, Mass.) tallied a match-high 21 digs including the 1,000th of her career. Tyros, who now has 1,018 digs in her career, became the ninth student-athlete in program history to reach the milestone.
Junior outside hitter Kayla Baril (Seekonk, Mass.) paced the Bears with 11 kills and ten digs, while junior setter Alyssa Kelley (Mansfield, Mass.) filled the stat sheet with 13 assists, ten digs, three kills and an ace.
Sophomore middle blocker Sarah Gibbons (Quincy, Mass.) added nine kills and four blocks (two solo) for Bridgewater State, and junior setter Elexi Miskiv (Centerville, Mass.) checked in with 17 assists and eight digs. Freshman Abigail Gardner (Holden, Mass.) notched a season-best 18 digs.
The two teams split the first two sets with UMass winning the first, 25-23, and Bridgewater responding with a 25-22 victory in the second. The Corsairs outlasted the Bears in the third set, 29-27, and then clinched the match with a 25-18 win in the fourth set.
UMass was led by junior outside hitter Amanda LaCroix's (East Freetown, Mass.) match-high 21 kills, with sophomore outside hitter Nicole Silverman (Chelmsford, Mass.) firing off 18 kills and freshman middle hitter Alivia Connors (Derry, N.H.) contributing ten kills with a match-high six aces. Sophomore libero Jillian Sykora's (Waterford, Conn.) added 20 digs and sophomore setter Jordan Rittberger (Huntington, N.Y.) fed the offense with 44 assists.
The Corsairs finished with 15 aces in the match, but also committed 14 serving errors. In comparison, the Bears recorded just one ace and five serving errors.
The Bears travel to Wheaton College on Saturday for a tri-match with the host Lyons and Gordon College starting at 11:00 AM.