By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Three members of the championship Bridgewater State University volleyball team have been honored by the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference.
Juniors Lily Welch (Hanson, Mass.) and Ava Crane (Dartmouth, Mass.) made the All-MASCAC first team while sophomore Charlotte Sullivan (Hyannis, Mass.) was selected to the second team.
Welch was also on the first team in 2024 while Crane and Sullivan are making their first appearances on the all-conference squad.
In addition, BSU's Tony daSilveira was chosen the MASCAC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
The Bears (17-4) went 8-0 in the MASCAC during the regular season and defeated Worcester State and Framingham State in the conference tournament for their second tourney title in a row.
BSU is in the NCAA Division III tourney for a second straight season -- the first time that has happened since 2007-08.
The Bears will play 20th-ranked Tufts University at Cousens Gym in Medford, Mass., in the opening round on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Welch, a captain and hitter, who has played all 21 games, continued her stellar all-around play for BSU.
The two-time MASCAC Tournament MVP leads the team in kills with 234, hitting percentage (.313) and digs (262). Welch is also seconds with 46 total blocks and fourth with 31 services aces.
In the MASCAC, Welch ranks first in hitting percentage, second in kills per set (3.12) and total kills.
The Most Valuable Player of the Patriot League's Keenan Division while at Whitman-Hanson Regional High, Welch was third in the MASCAC as a sophomore in hitting percentage (.234) and sixth with 204 kills.
Crane, an outside hitter, leads BSU with 54 service aces and ranks second with 256 digs.
She is third with 168 kills in 21 games and fourth with 21 total blocks.
Crane is also second in the MASCAc with 0.74 aces per set.
As a sophomore in '24, Crane was first with 0.74 aces per set and fourth with 54 aces.
Sullivan, a two-year starter, leads the Bears with 56 total blocks and is second in aces with 47 and hitting percentage (.277).
Sullivan is fifth on the team with 116 kills and has 75 digs.
She ranks second in the MASCAC with 0.76 blocks per set and is third in hitting percentage and aces per set (0.64).
daSilveira became BSU's first Coach of the Year since Ken Duarte in 2003 when he won the award last season.
This fall, the Bears were picked to finish second in the preseason coaches poll behind Westfield State University.
But BSU won all eight of its regular-season games, five of them by sweeps.
The Bears also defeated Westfield State, 3-2, rallying from a 2-0 deficit just as they did in the '24 MASCAC title game against the Owls.
BSU's lone losses were to Smith, Maine Maritime, UMass Dartmouth and Plymouth State.
Two of those teams, Maine Maritime and Plymouth State, are also in the NCAAs.
daSilveira was named the head coach in 2019 after one year as an assistant with the Bears.
The Bears went 13-10 last season, finishing second in the MASCAC at 6-1 after being picked to finish fifth. They lost at third-ranked Johns Hopkins, 3-0, in the NCAAs.
A 2004 graduate of Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Tech., daSilveira played four seasons for the GNBRVT Bears and coached the boys team at his alma mater.