By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University volleyball team opened its Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference schedule with a shutout victory.

The Bears defeated the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 3-0, at the Tinsley Center Tuesday night.

BSU improved to 7-3 overall and is now 42-0 against the Buccaneers (4-8) in a series that began in 1993.

The Bears won the first set, 25-20, took the second, 25-18 and closed it out, 25-14.

Junior Xin Ai Robinson (Kaiserslautern, Germany) had 20 assists with a .500 hitting percentage for BSU while sophomore Natalie Fredriksen (Plymouth, Mass.) added 12 assists and five digs.

Junior Lily Welch (Hanson, Mass.) contributed 12 kills and nine digs and had a .455 hitting percentage.

Junior Ava Crane (Dartmouth, Mass.) had 11 kills and nine digs with a .562 hitting percentage.

Senior Kim Gowell (Durham, N.H.) added 11 kills and junior Moriah Baptista (Dartmouth, Mass.) had eight digs.

For Mass. Maritime, freshman Mia Laurent (Methuen, Mass.) had nine digs while senior Shayla Narodowg (Wellington, Col.) added seven assists.

The Bears had a 96-72 advantage in attacks, 44-12 in kills and 38-11 in assists. They had a .302 hitting percentage while the Buccaneers were at .056.

The first set was even at 3-3 before a pair of kills by Welch helped move BSU up, 9-5.

After Mass. Maritime closed to 9-8, two more kills by Welch helped make it 14-10 and a kill by Gowell and an attack error pushed the lead to 16-11.

BSU took a 19-13 lead on two aces and a kill by Welch while an ace by Baptista and a Gowell kill helped put the Bears up, 21-15.

Mass. Maritime got no closer than 24-20, and a kill by Welch ended the set.

BSU went out to a 9-4 lead in the second set, two attack errors and a kill by Crane contributing.

The Buccaneers were down, 13-9 when the Bears scored points on a kill by sophomore Charlotte Sullivan (Hyannis, Mass.) and two attack errors for a 16-9 lead.

The lead was down to 18-15 and 21-18 before BSU scored four points in a row on two kills by Crane, one by Fredriksen and a Baptista ace to finish the set.

The Buccaneers led, 3-0, to start the final set but BSU took a 5-3 lead with Welch getting two kills and Sullivan and senior Meaghan Coutu (Brookline, N.H.) one each.

After the set was tied, 8-8, Gowell and Crane had kills for a 10-8 lead. A Laurent ace tied the set at 10-10.

BSU then scored five points in a row with two attack errors and kills by Sullivan, Welch and senior Alexis Starks (Milford, Mass.).

Two aces by Crane made it 20-12 and two kills by Gowell and a kill by Welch put BSU up, 23-13. A Coutu kill and an attack error closed out the match.

BSU heads to Westfield State (5-7) for an 11 a.m. match on Saturday. The Bears defeated the Owls, 3-2, in the MASCAC tournament championship game last season.

Mass. Maritime will be at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts for a noon match on Saturday.