Owls Ghost Buccaneers, Advance to 5-0 in MASCAC Action

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Sydney Cummins (Nicholasville, Ky.) and Hanna Nihill (Chandler, Ariz.) both reached double-figure kill totals as the Owls treated themselves to a 3-0 sweep over Mass. Maritime Academy on Halloween Eve from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass.

The Owls have now won seven of their last eight matches and are also 5-0 at home this year with all three games remaining in the regular season at home. Overall, Westfield is now 12-11 and 5-0 in MASCAC action. The Buccaneers are now 4-18 on the year and 2-4 in the conference.

Cummins haunted the Buccaneers defense for the majority of the night, registering 13 kills including the game-winning slam that deflected off a Maritime player and out of play. Hanna Nihill logged ten kills and two block assists. Julia Dangel-Garcia (Ashland, Mass.) supplied 25 assists and Chloe Schuld (Sycamore, Ill.) posted a game-high 16 digs.

Buccaneers first-year Alanys Torres (Chicopee, Mass.) increased her team lead in kills on the season, collecting seven to lead the group. Shayla Narodowg (Wellington, Colo.) added 16 assists while Audrey Manning (Hanover, Mass.) collected 14 digs in the back for Mass. Maritime.

Mass. Maritime opened the match with a nightmarish start, letting the Owls score nine unanswered points as Allie Hill (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) tallied bookend service aces coupled with three kills from Hanna Nihill and one from Julia Bartiet (Cheshire, Conn.).

The Buccaneers would not get any closer than six points for the rest of the set as Westfield used a closing run, compiling six of seven points late in the set to bring the match to a set point. Cummins finished the opening period by retrieving a set from Morgan Dority (Walpole, Mass.) to deliver the frame-winning point.

Mass. Maritime started the second set strong after a Gemma Geisler (Duxbury, Mass.) kill and a pair of Owls attacking errors gave the Buccaneers their largest lead of the set at 10-7. After a Westfield timeout, Bartiet steadied the Owls with consecutive kills, then two straight aces from Hill put Westfield in front, 11-10. Both teams exchanged points, then another kill from Geisler and an ace from Sadie Garcia (San Juan, Texas) tilted the lead in the Bucs favor at 17-15.

The Owls responded by scoring eight of the next ten points to open up a four-point lead, the largest margin for either side in the set as Westfield led 21-17 after a service ace from Dangel-Garcia. Westfield pushed the lead up to five points, eventually winning the middle stanza on a kill from Sarah Bingham (Reno, Nev.).

In the third set, Westfield built up an early advantage as Dority tricked the Buccaneers defense, attacking and delivering a kill after a dig from Emily Washkalavitch (Oxford, Penn.), giving the Owls a 7-2 lead. Mass. Maritime fought back with two straight points including an ace from Narodowg, but from that point forward, the Owls controlled the game. A kill from Cummins jumpstarted a string of eight unanswered points for Westfield, driving the lead into double digits at 15-4. Westfield rode the momentum and collected a sizeable scoring advantage in the middle of the period, generating 14 of 17 points to put the match out of reach.

Westfield State will return to action on Friday as the Owls welcome Worcester State in a MASCAC game at 7:00 P.M. as part of senior night from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass. Mass. Maritime will visit WPI for a non-conference meeting on Saturday at 1:00 P.M.