WESTFIELD, Mass. – The Westfield State Owls volleyball team took straight sets from the visiting Bridgewater State Bears (25-16, 25-19, 25-11) at the Woodward Center on Saturday, Sept. 21. The win pushes the Owls record to 6-5 overall and 2-0 in the MASCAC, the Bears fall to 3-6 overall and 0-2 in conference.
Brianna Starkey (Rockland/ Rockland) led a balanced Owl attack with 11 kills on 21 attempts, including the game winner. Ashley Crowley (Billerica/ Billerica) chipped in 8 kills, while Natasha Belardo (Springfield/ Holyoke) and Hanna Simpkins (Walpole, N.H./ Fall Mountain) landed 7 each.
Senior setter, Ally Rega (Chelmsford/ Chelmsford), connected on 37 assists to coordinate the Owl offense which finished with a .337 hitting percentage on the day.
The Bears threatened midway through the second set when Abigail Gardner (Holden/ Wachusett) connected on one of her 10 kills to stake a 17-15 lead. A subsequent Westfield timeout quickly turned the momentum and the Owls cruised through the remainder of the second set along with the third.
Gabryella Serrano (Bridgewater/ Brockton) had 11 kills for the Bears and Victoria Caiano (New Bedford/ GNB Regional Voc.) picked up 11 digs in the setback.
Lizzie Taylor (Medfield/ Medfield) anchored the Westfield defense with a game-high 20 digs, Rega added 9, while Belardo and Lynn Shattuck (Towsend/ North Middlesex) picked up 8.
Both teams hit the road on Wednesday, Sept. 25 for 7:00 p.m. starts. Westfield makes the short trip to Elms College and Bridgewater travels to Lesley.
