Worcester, MA --- Bridgewater State freshman Carolyn Morin (Marstons Mills, MA) finished with a game-best 13 kills and classmate Julie Hutchins (Bellingham, MA) chipped in 10 kills as they both helped lead the Bears to a 3-2 victory over Worcester State in MASCAC women's volleyball action this evening at the Lancer Gym.
After falling behind in the first set 25-12, the Lancers (11-11, 2-3 MASCAC) took the next two by scores of 25-21 and 25-19. But the Bears (9-11, 4-1 MASCAC) posted a pair of come from behind wins to take the fourth set, 26-24, and the finale, 15-12.
BSU junior Melanie Appleman (Hyannis, MA) had a great all-around game with 38 assists, 19 digs, six kills and a pair of block assists.
Third-year Kristen Robillard (Swansea, MA) put up a contest-high 21 digs and sophomore Sarah Mullarkey (Salem, MA) contributed 20. Junior Danielle Dean (Gilford, NH) added six kills and 11 digs while classmate Michelle Atkins (Chelsea, MA) finished with nine kills for the visitors.
Senior Becky Lebel (Millbury, MA) paced the Blue and Gold with 11 kills and two solo rejections while sophomore Alyssa Jasper (Rockland, MA) and junior Megan Brown (Dartmouth, MA) both registered eight kills apiece.
Sophomore Amanda Lewis (Poughkeepsie, NY) recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 33 assists and 13 digs as Brown tallied a team-best 17 digs and a nifty .364 hitting percentage with no errors on 32 attack attempts.
The Bears finished with 10 block assists as a team for a total of six blocks while the Lancers ended the night with five blocks – three of which were of the solo variety.
Worcester State was ahead 20-17 late in the fourth set, but Bridgewater State used a kill by Morin and consecutive service aces to equal the score 20-20.
Play would continue back and forth with both squads trading points until with the score 24-24, Hutchins registered a kill, the Lancers made a key attacking error and Hutchins added the clinching spike for the win.
In the fifth set, the Blue and Gold were up 10-7, but BSU used a 5-1 run to make the score 12-11.
Brown added a kill to knot things at 12-12, but the Bears utilized a pair of Lancer attacking errors and a kill by Morin to end the match.
Lebel was honored in a brief pre-game ceremony for participating in her final home regular-season game on "Senior Day".
She is pictured on the left with head coach Bernie Chase along with fellow captains Vicki O'Brien and Brown, who read a speech in honor of Lebel.
Worcester State heads to Wentworth for a 12 PM contest on Saturday. The Bears will play three games at the Hall of Fame Invitational and start things off with regionally-ranked Brandies at 5 PM at Smith College.