Box Score

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Junior Maureen Pollet (Dix Hills, N.Y.) racked up 21 kills to lead Western New England University in a 3-1 victory over the University of New England as the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's volleyball season began Saturday afternoon (Sep. 15) at the Harold Alfond Forum. The set scores were 25-19, 21-25, 25-21, and 25-19.

Following their first defeat of the season in the last outing, the Golden Bears (1-0 CCC) improve to 8-1 on the year. The Nor'easters now stand at 5-3 overall (0-1 CCC).

Senior Heather Mears (Amherst, Mass.) tallied 40 assists in the match, helping sophomore Kasey Cameron (Reading, Mass.) record eight kills in support for WNE. Sophomore Grace Kucharski (Avon, Conn.) had 26 digs for the Golden Bears, and junior Tyler Singh (Dumont, N.J.) was either solely responsible or involved with all seven of her team's blocks.

For Big Blue, senior Paige Curran (Chelmsford, Mass.) led the way with 18 kills, as junior Angie Brunette (North Andover, Mass.) and sophomore Leah Janelle (Madbury, N.H.) contributed 15 and 13 more, respectively. Junior Maria Kuehl (Middleton, N.H.) put up 46 assists to go with a team-high 13 digs, while senior Jackie Stone (Saginaw, Mich.) and junior Kirsta Adie (Tyngsboro, Mass.) added 11 digs apiece.

After the visitors gradually pulled away in the first set, UNE broke away from a 19-19 deadlock in the second to even things up. Western New England took the third to regain the 2-1 advantage, and then surged out of the gate in the fourth to a 5-0 cushion and never looked back.

The Golden Bears host Rhode Island College on Thursday (7 p.m.), while the Nor'easters head to Endicott College for another CCC contest on Tuesday (7 p.m.).