WORCESTER, Mass. - The Worcester State University volleyball team celebrated Senior Night in style on Wednesday evening, defeating Bridgewater State University 3-0 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference action at John P. Brissette Court. Set scores were 25-14, 25-18, 25-16.

With the win, the Lancers move to 15-8 overall on the season, and stay perfect in MASCAC play at 6-0. The Bears drop to 4-11 overall and 3-3 in conference play.

Before the match, the Worcester State Athletic Department honored the careers of seniors Allie Nolan (Melrose, Mass.), Emily Carens (Northborough, Mass.), Amari King (Lawrence, Mass.), Megan Leavens (Storrs, Conn.), and Lauren Murphy (Taunton, Mass.) in their final regular season home match. Head coach Bernie Chase, as well as a handful of the seniors' underclassmen teammates, spoke on each of the players.

The Lancers opened up the first set firing on all cylinders, opening on a 5-1 run as the Bears offense was slow to get going with three early attack errors. The Lancers would never look back from their early advantage, clinching the set moments later on a setting error to put Worcecster State on top 1-0. 

The second set proved to be much tighter than the opener, as the teams went back and forth in the early going, but the Lancers would pull away late to secure the win. The Lancers trailed 14-13 at the midway point of the set, but the Lancers went on an 8-1 run, capped by a Leavens service ace, to make the score 21-15 and put the set out of reach.

Again, it was a big swing in the third set that saw the Lancers put the match to bed. After Bridgewater State rushed out to a 12-9 lead, the hosts responded with a 7-0 run to go ahead 16-12, capped by a kill from junior Marissa Proia (Framingham, Mass.). The Lancers continued to roll down the stretch and ended the match on a kill from junior Stephanie Chapin (Hampden, Mass.).

Carens led all players on the evening with 12 kills in the victory, and also led the Lancers with 13 digs. She now sits at 996 career kills for the Lancers, just four away from reaching the milestone marker of 1,000. Chapin finished just a kill away from double-figures, recording nine kills on the match. 

Bridgewater's Sydney Rice (Medway, Mass.) and Erin Clifford (Medway, Mass.) each recorded eight kills to lead the Bears, while Cassidy Tyros (Chelmsford, Mass.) matched Carens' match-high 13 digs.

Both teams return to action at the Hall of Fame Invitational on Friday. The Lancers play Brandeis, while the Bears play Bowdoin.

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