Volleyball Sweeps Past Curry, 3-0

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University volleyball team had a winning home debut Tuesday night.

The Bears swept past Curry College, 3-0, at the Tinsley Center, posting scores of 25-12, 25-16 and 25-12, against the Colonels.

BSU improved to 3-1 with the non-conference victory while Curry fell to 2-4.

The Bears are now 6-1 against the Colonels in their seven meetings since 1994. Curry made its first trip to BSU since 2015.

Sophomore Charlotte Sullivan (Hyannis, Mass.) paced the Bears with 10 kills and an impressive .769 hitting percentage to go along with six aces.

Junior Xin Ai Robinson (Kaiserslautern, Germany) added 16 assists and six digs for the Bears while junior Ava Crane (Dartmouth, Mass.) checked in with 10 digs, eight kills and four aces.

Also contributing to the win were junior Moriah Baptista (Dartmouth, Mass.) with 12 digs and junior Lily Welch (Hanson, Mass.) with six kills and 17 digs.

Curry freshman Faith Edgehille (Franklin, Mass.) had 10 digs.

The Bears had a 32-12 edge in kills and advantages of 27-9 in assists and 13-6 in service aces.

BSU had a .230 hitting percentage while Curry managed .106 percent, and the Colonels had 21 attack errors.

The two teams combined for 17 serving errors.

The Bears jumped to a 10-2 lead in the opening set with Sullivan getting two kills and two aces and Welch adding three straight kills.

A service ace by junior Morgan Kramer (Brightwaters, N.Y.) moved Curry within 11-7, but BSU scored six straight points with Crane getting a pair of kills.

After trailing, 17-7, the Colonels would get no close than eight points, and a kill by Welch from Robinson finished the set.

Curry took a 3-0 lead to start the second set before BSU scored the next five points and opened an 11-5 lead on a service ace by sophomore Natalie Fredriksen (Plymouth, Mass.).

A kill by Crane made it 14-7, but Curry scored five points in a row to get within two. Two kills by Sullivan later sparked a 5-0 run, and a kill by senior Kim Gowell (Durham, N.H.) finished the set.

Curry again took an early lead, 2-0, in the third set before it was tied, 4-4. Kills by Sullivan and Crane were part of a 9-2 run that opened a 13-6 lead.

The Colonels rallied to make it 14-9, but BSU regained control by scoring five points in a row with four attack errors and two kills by Sullivan.

BSU is home again on Thursday at 6 p.m. when it faces Rhode Island College.

Curry travels to Bronxville, N.Y., Saturday for a tri-match with Sarah Lawrence College and Saint Joseph's of Connecticut at 10 a.m. and noon.