After winning their respective quarterfinal matches on Wednesday night, the Bridgewater State Bears and MCLA Trailblazers are heading to the MASCAC Volleyball Tournament semifinals which will be played Saturday at Framingham State. 

#4 Bridgewater State 3, #5 Worcester State 1 Box Score

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Fourth-seeded Bridgewater State University posted a 3-1 victory over #5 seed Worcester State University in the quarterfinal round of the 2016 MASCAC Volleyball Tournament on Wednesday evening at the Tinsley Center.

The Bears (11-19), who won by set scores of 25-15, 25-22, 26-28 and 25-16, advance to the tournament semifinal round and will take on Framingham State University on Saturday at 11:00 AM. The top-seeded Rams are hosting both semifinal round matches as well as the championship match on Saturday. The visiting Lancers end the season with an overall record of 11-20.

Senior setter Charleyne Panner (Gilford, N.H.) paced the host Bears with 40 assists, eight kills and ten digs. Sophomore outside hitter Erin Clifford (Hanson, Mass.) led all player with 15 kills and three blocks (two solo) while posting a .361 hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter Clara Goncalves (Dennis, Mass.) checked in with 12 kills and a .355 hitting percentage, while senior outside hitter Hannah Maymon (Narragansett, R.I.) contributed 12 kills, a pair of aces and ten digs.

Senior middle blocker Valerie Hoyle (Bridgewater, Mass.) notched 13 kills to lead Worcester State, while sophomore outside hitter Caleigh Davis (Acushnet, Mass.) added 12 kills. Freshman middle blocker Sarah Powers (Hopkinton, Mass.) chipped in with 11 kills and two aces, while sophomore outside hitter Emily Carens (Northborough, Mass.) tallied ten kills and eight digs, and sophomore setter Alexandra Nolan (Melrose, Mass.) dished out 36 assists.

Bridgewater cruised to a 25-15 win in the opening set. With the Bears leading 23-15, a tandem block by Panner and Clifford followed by a Clifford kill capped off the scoring. Clifford and Panner finished with four kills apiece in the opening set.

The Lancers rallied from an 11-5 deficit in the second set to make it close. With the score knotted at 18-18, back-to-back kills from Maymon and Panner gave the Bears the lead for good. Clifford accounted for three of the last four points of the match, all kills, to give the Bears the 25-22 win. Clifford and Maymon notched six kills apiece in the set, while Panner added four.

The Bears seemed on the verge of a sweep with a 21-17 lead in the third set following back-to-back kills from Maymon and freshman middle blocker Sarah Gibbons (Quincy, Mass.). But the Lancers responded with back-to-back kills of their own by Powers and Davis to make it a two-point set. Down 24-23, kills by Davis and Carens sandwiched around a Lancer error, tied the score at 25-25. Following an exchange of successful attacks, Worcester received consecutive kills from Hoyle and Davis to win the set. Davis finished with eight kills in the set to pace the Lancers.

Bridgewater jumped out to a 13-5 lead in the fourth set before the Lancers reeled off seven straight points to cut the deficit to 13-12 and force a BSU timeout. Out of the timeout, Goncalves answered with a kill to stop the moment. Moments later a solo block by sophomore right side hitter Colleen Longley (North Granby, Conn.) gave the Bears a 15-13 lead. An ace by senior defensive specialist Samantha Fasoli (Sagamore Beach, Mass.), a pair of kills by Maymon, two Worcester attacking errors and a solo block by Gibbons helped the Bears pull away for the 25-16 win in the set and the 3-1 victory for the match. 

#3 MCLA 3, #6 Salem State 1 Box Score

North Adams, MA- The third seeded MCLA Volleyball team overcame a slow start to defeat the sixth seeded Salem State Vikings 3-1 in a MASCAC quarterfinal matchup held in the Amsler Center Gymnasium.  With the win, the Trailblazers (16-13) will move on to the semifinal round and face second seeded Westfield State on Saturday.  The top seed, the Framingham State Rams will host the remainder of the tournament.

Trailblazer senior Allison Clark (San Jose, CA) led all players with 12 kills on the night.  With her effort tonight, Clark broke the all time kills mark at MCLA besting the 775 that Kayla Bromback tallied during her career.  Clark now has 777 heading into the semifinal round.

The visiting Vikings started fast as they burst out to a 6-0 lead in the opening set forcing a Trailblazer timeout.  MCLA responded by scoring five straight themselves to get back into the set.  Neither team would lead by more than three points the rest of the way and with MCLA trailing 22-21, they would rattle off four straight points to take the first 25-22.

The second set started the same way as the Vikings would jump out in front 7-2 before MCLA eventually went on a 7-2 spurt of their own to knot it up at 9-9.  They would eventually pull away and when Brooke Queripel swatted down the final point, MCLA took the second set 25-19. 

The Vikings wouldn't go quietly however as they dominated the third set.  Salem led just 9-7 early in the set, but they would outscore MCLA 16-4 the rest of the way to cruise to a 25-11 set victory and force a fourth.

In the fourth, MCLA was just too much to handle as Clark notched five kills in the decisive set as the Trailblazers would pull away for a 25-12 clincher.

Clark earned her 12 kills on 45 attacks.  The senior finished the double double with 15 digs.  Maggie Allen added 6 kills while Taylor Wiese had 16 assists and Beatrice Lechler added 12.  Michelle Laga had a team best 21 digs while Lechler added 13 respectively.  MCLA notched 13 aces led by Lechler and Laga who each had three.

The Vikings were paced on offense by Chloe Roy's 11 kills on 49 attacks.  Emily Hennessy added 7 kills for Salem.  Morgan Adams dished out 11 assists while Mackenzie Salls added 9.  On defense, Hannah Mullarkey had 29 digs while Samantha Chaisson ended with 13.

The Vikings end their season at 6-25.

MCLA will move on to play second seeded Westfield State Saturday at 1pm in Framingham.  Back on September 13th, the Owls defeated the Trailblazers 3-0 in the Amsler Campus Center Gym.

Courtesy of Bridgewater State and MCLA Sports Information