By Jim Fenton

FITCHBURG, Mass. -- For the first time since 2006, the Bridgewater State University volleyball team has won the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season championship outright.

The Bears finished the MASCAC schedule a perfect 8-0 on Saturday by sweeping past Fitchburg State University, 3-0, in the regular-season finale at the Parkinson Gymnasium.

BSU (15-4 overall) is the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament for the first time in 19 years.

The Bears have an opening-round bye and will host a semifinal-round match at the Tinsley Center Thursday at 6 p.m. The opponent will be determined after games played on Tuesday.

The 15 wins by BSU are the most for the program since 2014 when the Bears finished 18-19.

BSU will have back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2005-06.

This is the 16th outright MASCAC title for the Bears (19th overall), including a stretch of 12 in a row from 1995-2006.

BSU has also shared three conference championships -- in 1990 with Fitchburg State, 1993 with Fitchburg State and Salem State and 2008 with Westfield State.

The Bears are on a five-game winning streak after defeating the Falcons (4-21, 2-6 MASCAC).

BSU won by scores of 26-24, 25-18 and 25-11.

Junior Lily Welch (Hanson, Mass.) had a match high 15 kills as well as 11 digs and a .667 hitting percentage for the Bears. Welch also recorded three aces.

Junior Ava Crane (Dartmouth, Mass.) added a match-best 20 digs and six aces, including the 100th of her career, for the Bears, She also notched six kills.

Freshman Janasia Brandao (Brockton, Mass.) contributed 14 assists and seven digs while junior Xin Ai Robinson (Kaiserslautern, Germany) notched a match-high 25 assists in addition to three aces.

Senior Meaghan Coutu (Brookline, N.H.) added eight kills and had a .462 hitting percentage while senior Kim Gowell (Durham, N.H.) and sophomore Gracey Gorman (Weymouth, Mass.) had five kills each and sophomore Charlotte Sullivan (Hyannis, Mass.) tallied six kills.

The Bears finished with 46 kills, 44 assists, 55 digs and 12 aces and had a .257 hitting percentage.

Fitchburg State junior Mia Vestal (Wilmington, Mass.) had 18 assists while senior Sydney Nortelus (Cambridge, Mass.) added 15 digs and junior Samantha Azzari (Haverhill, Mass.) chipped in with six digs, six kills and all five of the Falcon aces.

The Bears had to rally from a 23-20 deficit to win the first set.

BSU had jumped to a 9-4 lead, helped by two aces from Crane and kills by Sullivan, Welch and Crane.

Three attack errors moved the Falcons within 9-7, and after a Welch kills, Fitchburg State moved in front, 15-11, aided by two services aces from Azzari.

Two kills by Coutu enabled BSU to move within 17-16, and it was tied at 20 before Azzari had a kill and ace to push Fitchburg State up, 23-20.

The Bears went on a 6-1 run to win the set, getting an ace from Robinson, two kills by Welch, an ace by Crane and a kill by Gorman with a kill by Crane winning the set.

The Falcons held a 9-5 lead in the second set before BSU pulled even at 11-11 on two kills by Welch and one each from Crane, Coutu, Sullivan plus a Robinson ace.

BSU took its first lead of the set at 13-12 on a kill by Gowell and the advantage went to 17-13 as Gowell had another kill and Welch an ace.

Kills by Gorman, Sullivan and Crane plus a Robinson ace made it 23-17 and a kill by Sullivan and a Crane ace won the set.

BSU opened a 10-4 lead in the final set, and the Falcons called a timeout.

The Bears then went on a 5-1 run for a 15-5 lead, getting kills from Gorman and Gowell and a Welch ace.

Fitchburg State trailed, 17-7, when BSU scored five points in a row, two aces by Crane, two kills by Welch and a kill by Coutu.

Up 23-11, the Bears finished the match with a kill by Welch and an attack error.

Bridgewater finished with a .257 team hitting percentage and 12 aces (seven receiving errors). The BSU defense limited the Falcons to a .085 hitting percentage.