Volleyball Falls to Wellesley, 3-1

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Wellesley College earned a 3-1 (27-25, 21-25, 25-14, 25-14) victory over visiting Bridgewater State University in non-conference women's volleyball action on Tuesday evening at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse.

Wellesley used aggressive serving and a strong middle attack to come away with the win. The Blue improve to 9-10 on the season, while the Bears drop to 9-16.

The Blue dominated the middle, as freshmen Yasmine Reece (New Rochelle, N.Y.) and Elise Griffin (Los Altos Hills, Calif.) combined for 28 of Wellesley's 44 kills and played a part in all of Wellesley's eight team blocks. Reece led all players with 15 kills and three blocks, followed by Griffin with a career-high 13 kills and five blocks (one solo).

Sophomore Katie Yan (Cohoes, N.Y.) and freshman Samantha Hoang (Elk Grove, Calif.) anchored the floor defense for the Blue, combining for 19 digs, while junior Maddie Koh (Seattle, Wash.) and freshman Michelle Li (Scarsdale, N.Y.) combined for 43 assists in the win. Reece and Li led all servers with five aces a piece.

Junior Sydney Bennett (North Attleboro, Mass.) and senior Clara Goncalves (Dennis, Mass.) led the Bears with nine kills and two blocks each. Senior Julie Hutchins (Bellingham, Mass.) added seven kills and a team-best .357 hitting percentage, while junior Hannah Maymon (Narragansett, R.I.) chipped in six. Freshman Cassidy Tyros (Chelmsford, Mass.) led all players with 13 digs. Junior Charleyne Panner (Gilford, N.H.) distributed 32 assists in the loss.

The opening set of the match was close throughout with neither team leading by more than three points. The Bears were at set point on three separate occasions, but were unable to close it out.  Trailing 25-24, Griffin tallied three straight kills to give the Blue the 27-25 win.

The visitors bounced back in the second set, despite falling behind the Blue, 15-13, midway through the game. Bridgewater State rallied to tie the score at 16-all on a kill from Goncalves, before going on to score four of the next five points in the set to take a 20-17 advantage. Wellesley then got back to within a point, when a kill from Reece made it 20-19. However, Bridgewater St. never relinquished the late advantage, holding on to close out the 25-21 win and tie the match at 1-1.

Wellesley put together two-straight 20-14 wins in the third and fourth sets to wrap up the match.

The Bears return to action on Saturday, October 17, with an 11:00 AM conference match at Westfield State. The Blue will host the Wellesley Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Ocotber 16 and 17, starting with a 7:00 PM Friday matchup with Ithaca College.