Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Fourth-seeded Western New England University dropped the opening set but rallied to defeat No. 5 University of New England, 3-1, in the first round of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Women's Volleyball Championship played Wednesday evening (Oct. 31) at the Alumni Healthful Living Center. Set scores were 21-25, 25-20, 25-21, and 25-17.

The Golden Bears (22-6) advance to face top-seeded Roger Williams University on Thursday. The Nor'easters' 2012 campaign comes to an end at 16-10 overall.

Western New England received 14 kills from Inna Sergeychik, who combined with Devyn Frank, Tyler Singh, and Emily McGran to account for all 11 blocks for the home team. Kendra Ouimette tossed in five service aces and Heather Mears helped guide the attack with 33 assists.

Mears also had 10 digs, while teammate Grace Kucharski picked up a match-best 19 digs on the night.

For UNE, senior and recently-voted CCC Player of the Year Paige Curran (Chelmsford, Mass.) put down a contest-high 16 kills, junior Angie Brunette (North Andover, Mass.) added 10, and sophomore Leah Janelle (Madbury, N.H.) contributed nine. Junior Maria Kuehl (Middleton, N.H.) posted a double-double with 35 assists and 11 digs.

Coming out of a timeout with the Golden Bears up 9-1 in the first frame, Big Blue was able to cut the margin to as little as two on several occasions in the ensuing points, only to see the lead bumped to five (15-10) midway through. A kill by Brunette made the WNE advantage two again (18-16), and made it her turn to serve. Three of the next five points went down for aces and UNE ran off seven straight to gain a 23-18 edge, before Curran recorded two more winners to put the visitors in front.

Brunette tallied all five of her aces in the set.

The second was back-and-forth throughout the early stages, until the Golden Bears pulled away from 13-all with a 7-0 spurt of their own. Though the Nor'easters did get it back to 22-20, Western New England evened things at a set apiece with the last three points.

UNE led by as many as six a few times (last at 13-7) to start the third set, until an 8-0 stretch from the hosts switched the cushion over to WNE. However, Big Blue notched three consecutive points shortly after to tie the stanza a 20-20, but a UNE service error gave the lead right back, and the Golden Bears capitalized to step within one set of victory.

Western New England erased a small UNE lead in the initial moments of the fourth, and never looked back.