WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State first-year Lauren Carnes (Westfield, Mass.) registered a team-high 15 kills as the Owls took down Elms College in four sets (25-15, 21-25, 28-26, 25-15) in a non-conference game on Tuesday night from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass.
After a tightly contested middle of the first set, the Owls ramped up the pressure by scoring eight of the next ten points to open up a 21-13 lead. The Owls capped off the final two points in the set off of a solo block from Morgan Dority (Walpole, Mass.) followed by a kill from Carnes.
Westfield jumped out to a sizeable lead in the second set with an Elms attack error giving the Owls a 19-12 advantage. The Blazers answered by scoring ten consecutive points off the service game of Alysha Izquierdo (Holyoke, Mass.) which comprised of three kills from Samiyah Cabrera (Springfield, Mass.), a multitude of attack errors from the Owls, and a pair of aces from Izquierdo to put Elms in front 22-19.
Carnes broke the Blazers scoring outburst with a kill, but Elms maintained the momentum, riding the hot hand of Cabrera who tallied two additional kills, including the set winner to even the match.
The Blazers continued to control the middle stages of the match, scoring the first six points of the third set before Westfield tacked on five straight points of their own as a service ace from Sarah Bingham (Reno, Nev.) trimmed the Blazers lead to two points. The set wavered back and forth with both teams exchanging the lead before the Owls managed to capture two straight points after a near miss on an attack to the sideline boundary from Elms assisted the Owls to a set three victory.
The Owls closed the fourth set by scoring five of the last six points with Carnes collecting her 15th kill of the match to punctuate the set and match win for Westfield.
Cabrera turned in an all-around impactful performance for the Blazers, leading Elms in kills (19), digs (22), and tied the team lead in service aces with three. Izquierdo accumulated 12 kills with Jaylen Holman (Las Cruces, N.M.) recording a game-high 31 assists.
Bingham joined Carnes in double-figure kills by adding ten. Dority and Julia Dangel-Garcia (Ashland, Mass.) accounted for 45 of the Owls' 54 assists on the night. Bridgette McAndrews (Longmeadow, Mass.) tallied a team-high 27 digs and chipped in nine kills. Michaela O'Connor (Shrewsbury, Mass.) racked up 22 digs.
Westfield State (2-14) will enter back into conference action this weekend as the Owls travel to Framingham State on Friday for a 6:00 P.M. start time. Elms College (2-14) will host Simmons in a GNAC matchup on Friday at 7:00 P.M.