Volleyball Goes 1-1 at Bonnie May Invitational

By Jim Fenton

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University volleyball team split a pair of matches at the Bonnie May Invitational Saturday afternoon.

The Bears (2-1) opened with a 3-0 victory over Vermont State Lyndon, winning by scores of 25-8, 25-7 and 25-9, in the first meeting between the two programs.

BSU then lost to host Smith College, 3-0, at Ainsworth Gymnasium.

The Bears are back in action on Tuesday at 6 p.m. when they host Curry College at the Tinsley Center.

Bridgewater State 3, Vermont Lyndon State 0

The Bears jumped to leads early in all three sets against the outmatched Hornets (0-5). Bridgewater recorded 19 aces in the match and recorded a .491 hitting percentage. Lyndon registered six serving errors and just four kills.

Sophomore Natalie Fredriksen (Plymouth, Mass.) had nine assists and three digs for BSU while junior Xin Ai Robinson (Kaiserslautern, Germany) added eight assists.

Senior Kim Gowell (Durham, N.H.) had eight kills followed by junior Lily Welch (Hanson, Mass.) with seven and sophomore Charlotte Sullivan (Hyannis, Mass.) with four.

The Bears opened an 8-1 lead in the first set with Sullivan getting four aces and two kills.

The lead went to 15-3 as Fredriksen had four aces. After the Hornets moved within 17-8, three kills by junior Ava Crane (Dartmouth, Mass.) helped close it out with an 8-0 run.

BSU took a 9-2 lead to start the second set with Welch getting a pair of kills.

Welch and Gowell had two kills each as the lead went to 14-3 and a pair of kills by Sullivan helped open a 20-5 advantage.

In the third set, BSU led, 12-4, thanks to three kills by Gowell and two by Welch.

Vermont State Lyndon was within 14-8 when BSU put together six straight points. Sophomore Olivia Arruda (Dartmouth, Mass.) had three straight aces to finish the match.

Smith College 3, Bridgewater State 0

Smith defeated BSU, 25-16, 25-21 and 25-19 to improve to 6-2 with six straight wins.

Robinson and Fredriksen had nine assists each for the Bears while Crane chipped in with eight digs and six kills while and junior Moriah Baptista (Dartmouth, Mass.) had six digs.

Welch, Gowell and Sullivan added four kills apiece.

BSU held a 4-2 lead to open the first set with Welch getting a kill, but Smith outscored the Bears, 8-1, for a 10-5 edge.

A kill by Crane moved BSU within 13-9, and after trailing, 16-9, the Bears closed to 18-13 on a Fredriksen ace and kills by Crane and Gowell.

But Smith pulled away after that to take the opener.

BSU was behind, 6-1, to start the second set, getting only a kill by Crane. A Gowell kill pulled the Bears within 7-5 and a Welch ace had BSU trailing, 8-7.

But Smith scored seven of the next eight points. BSU was as close as 20-17 after a service error and bad set and then moved behind, 22-20, before Smith finished off the set.

The Bears opened a 4-1 lead to begin the final set, then were outscored, 7-2.

They trailed, 16-11, before getting three straight points, but fell behind, 19-14. The Bears were down, 23-19, but Smith scored the final two points of the day.