Volleyball Sweeps Western New England for First CCC Win

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.  – Suffolk women's volleyball entered the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) victory with a straight set decision over Western New England Wednesday night at the Alumni Healthful Living Center. The triumph came via set scores 25-22, 25-21 and 25-14.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Western New England 0
RECORDS: Suffolk (7-11, 1-4 CCC) | Western New England (9-8, 2-3 CCC) 

SET ONE RECAP (25-22, SUFFOLK)

• Suffolk jumped ahead 5-1 to force a Western New England timeout. 
• The Rams lead extended to 7-2 before the Golden Bears battled back and evened the score at 9-all. 
• A service error allowed Suffolk to stay in front, 10-9, however WNE scored three straights to flip the script, 12-10. 
• A back-and-forth battled ensued with the lead switching twice more. 
• Down 17-16 Scott Blanchard took a timeout to calm his team down. 
• The huddle helped as the Rams rattled off four straight points to grab a 20-17 gap. 
• WNE did not let up as three unanswered points from the hosts leveled the playing field for the ninth time in the frame at 20-20. 
• Suffolk took control from there as it outscored the Golden Bears, 5-2 the rest of the way to take the set.  

SET TWO RECAP (25-21, SUFFOLK)

• With a 7-4 edge, Suffolk slowly padded its advantage to 19-13. 
• WNE responded with a 5-1 spurt to slice the margin to two, 20-18. 
• Isabelle Huzar knocked down a kill out of a timeout to halt the Golden Bears. 
• WNE answered with a block by Isabelle Petty and Taylor Geist to keep things interesting. 
• The team's coupled points down the stretch and Suffolk's edge proved to be enough.  

SET THREE RECAP (25-14, SUFFOLK)

• The Rams put the first nine points on the board. 
• WNE put together a 6-1 spurt of its own to slice the deficit down to 10-6. 
• The set of runs continued with the Rams' 6-1 stretch that nearly made the distance double digits, 16-7. 
• The Golden Bears hung around thanks to four straight points and the Rams responded with five points in a row of their own to maintain a 21-11 cushion. 
• That ground would be enough for Suffolk to secure the sweep.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• McKenna Keowen notched an 11-kill, 13-dig double-double effort. 
• Kenzley Bell logged 17 digs to go along with three assists and a pair of kills. 
• Alina Nowakowski provided five kills and five blocks. 
• Jasmine James provided five kills to the 31-kill attack that was set up by Harmony Johnson's 13 assists.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk won its first CCC contest. 
• The Rams moved to 3-6 all-time against the Golden Bears. 
• Suffolk has coupled back-to-back wins over WNE together for the first time in program history. 
• The blue-and-gold is 2-0 versus Western New England in the Blanchard era.
• Keowen recorded her fifth collegiate double-double. 
• Nowakowski tallied a career-high five blocks.  

POST-MATCH PIC
  

COMING UP
A tri-match is in store for Suffolk this weekend as it walks across Boston Common for battles at Emerson with the Lions and Colby. The Rams take on the hosts at 10 a.m., before the Mules immediately after at 12 p.m.