WORCESTER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to host Worcester State University in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action on Tuesday night.
All three games were tighly contested with the Lancers taking game one, 25-20, followed by a 26-24 decision in the second game and a 25-22 victory in game three.
Worcester improves to 20-5 on the season and 4-1 in the MASCAC, while Bridgewater slips to 14-16 overall and 2-3 in conference play.
Junior Jennifer Cabral (Swansea, MA) paced the Lancers with nine kills, 10 digs and a pair of service aces. Senior Alyssa Jasper (Rockland, MA) finished with 12 kills and six digs while junior Kaylee Leduc (Swansea, MA) had a squad-best 15 digs. Senior Amanda Lewis (Poughkeepsie, NY) dished out 31 assists to go along with a pair of kills.
BSU sophomore Hannah Maymon (Narragansett, RI) ended her night with eight kills and a contest-high 23 digs, while junior Julie Hutchins (Bellingham, MA) tallied eight kills, a .429 hitting percentage and two blocks (one solo). Sophomore Clara Goncalves (Dennis, MA) added nine kills and a .381 hitting percentage, while senior Sarah Mullarkey (Salem, MA) registered 12 assists, ten digs and an ace.
In the first set, a late ace by Mullarkey helped the Bears pull to within one point of equaling the score (19-18), but the hosts used a 5-1 run to force set-point as the Lancers took advantage of several BSU attacking errors.
After the Bears go the ball back on a Lancer miscue, their rally hopes were extinguished when junior Meghan Deighan (Lynnfield, MA) ended the opening set with a kill.
In the pivotal second set, the crowd was treated to nine ties and six lead changes before BSU emerged with the 23-19 advantage. Worcester State, however, took advantage of several unforced errors and utilized a 7-1 surge to close out the set.
An ace by Cabral tied up the score at 24-24 and the Bears were whistled for a net violation for the Lancers final point.
In the third, Worcester State led by as many as seven and then they increased their margin to 20-15. The Bears, however, got back into the game following several Lancer miscues and on two block assists by Stephanie Tuepker (Marstons Mills, MA) and Christina Jaros (Plymouth, Mass.) to trail by one (22-21).
The Blue and Gold, however, regained their composure after a timeout and ended the set with three consecutive winners by Cabral, Jasper and Deighan to end it.
The Bears finished with nine serving erros, eight blocking errors and 11 ball handling errors in the contest, compared to just four serving errors, two blocking errors and six ball handling errors for the Lancers.
The Lancers head to New London, Connecticut for a tri-match against Mount Holyoke at 4 PM and host Conn College at 6 o'clock on Saturday.
Bridgewater State starts off with Hamilton on Friday in the Hall of Fame classic at 7 PM in Amherst before finishing the tournament with Smith at 10 AM and Trinity at 2 PM. The final two games will be played in Northampton on Saturday.