BUZZARDS BAY, Mass – The visiting Bridgewater State University women's volleyball team blanked Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 3-0, in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) matchup on Thursday night at the Clean Harbors Athletic Center.
Bridgewater took the first two sets in the match handily, 25-16 and 25-13 with the Bucs leading only once in the two sets. In the third set, the Bucs didn't go down easily, taking a 6-0 early lead before the Bears got on the board, subsequently running away with the set 25-15 for the 3-0 conference victory.
The Bears' Sydney Rice ( Medway, Mass.)tied for match high with eight kills to go along with a .615 hitting percentage, four assisted blocks, and an ace. Kayla Baril (Seekonk, Mass.) added five kills and a match high four service aces for the visitors. Picabo Miskiv (Barnstable, Mass.) had 12 assists for Bridgewater with Casey Holmes (Norton, Mass.) adding 11 more. Maggie Czarniak (Halifax, Mass.) checked in with three aces.
Bridgewater State finished with ten aces in the match and a .160 hitting percentage. The Bears also recorded eight total blocks (two solo).
For Maritime, senior Jen Roy (Attleboro, Mass) led the attack with, a match high, eight kills on the night. Roy added an assist and a service ace to stat line. Marie Harrison (Weymouth, Mass) added five kills for the hosts and an assist. Setter, Madison Coughlin (Monroe, Conn) accumulated a match high 12 assists in the match to go along with two service aces.
The Buccaneers struggled mightily on the attack recording just 18 kills on 85 attacks with 22 attacking errors for a -.047 hitting percentage. The Bucs notched five aces but also posted eight serving errors.
Following two sets, controlled by the Bears, the Bucs came out hot in the third set rattling off six straight points, keeping the service in the hands of Coughling thanks to multiple ball handling errors by the Bears. Bridgewater followed up the 6-0 run with a 4-0 run of their own. The Bucs extended their lead back to four, 8-4, which was followed by a run by the Bears that gave them a 10-9 lead at one point. After that, the guests would allow only six more Buccaneer points and won the set 25-15 to improve to 2-6 on the year and 2-1 in the MASCAC. With the loss, Maritime falls to 0-9 on the season and 0-3 in conference play.
The Bears travel to Clark Univeristy on Saturday for a tri-match with the host Cougars and Rhode Island College starting at 1pm. The Bucs are on the road this Saturday at 1pm for a tri-match with Colby-Sawyer and host Suffolk University.