Worcester, MA --- Sophomore Jennifer Cabral (Swansea, MA) did a little bit of everything finishing with 13 digs, five kills, four aces and one solo block as she helped lead Worcester State to a 3-0 victory over Westfield State in MASCAC women's volleyball action this evening at WPI's Harrington Auditorium.
The Lancers (14-2, 3-0 MASCAC) defeated the Owls (6-11, 1-1 MASCAC) in three straight sets by scores of 25-14, 25-22 and 25-20.
The victory for the Blue and Gold snapped a 12-game drought at the hands of Westfield State which included nine regular season matchups and three contests in the postseason. The last Worcester State win was on October 16, 2004.
Senior Alyssa Jasper (Rockland, MA) also paced the Lancers with a game-best 16 kills as classmate Amanda Lewis (Poughkeepsie, NY) doled out 33 assists. Junior Kaylee Leduc (Swansea, MA) chipped in with 10 digs.
Freshman Victoria Sutphen (Holden, MA) led the Owls with seven kills as junior Kelsey Abrahamson (Deerfield, MA) and teammate Kendyl Haney (Ashland, MA) combined for 11 kills.
Senior Carolyn Cote (Chelmsford, MA) and freshman Courtney Ryan (Quincy, MA) each helped the Owls compile 25 assists while the defense was propelled by senior Sarah Green (Peabody, MA) and junior Shannon Shea (Chelmsford, MA) who both registered 10 and nine digs, respectively.
Junior Casey Howe (Chelmsford, MA) distinguished herself behind the net for Westfield State with a trio of solo blocks.
Midway through the second set, Worcester State erased a 13-11 deficit with a 6-0 run and took over the 17-11 margin.
Following an ace by Sutphen which made the score 23-18, Jasper sent home a vicious spike to threaten with the set-point. Westfield State, however, hung in with two quick points on a kill by Ryan and a service ace by Hatcher.
The hosts though closed out the contest with a kill by junior Meghan Deighan (Lynnfield, MA) for the 2-0 series lead.
The third was a back and forth affair as it was tight until near the end with Worcester State on top by four on two occasions after Cabral drilled one to the center of the court (22-18) and Jasper hit one home for the match point (24-20).
Deighan again ended the game with another kill as she finished the contest with eight kills and an impressive .310 hitting percentage.
Worcester State will head to Weston, Mass this weekend for a tri-match starting with Southern Vermont in a 1 PM match-up before taking on Regis at 3. Westfield State also has triangular opponents on Friday evening in Springfield when they play Babson at 6 PM and host Western New England in a 8 o'clock battle.
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