Bridgewater State and Westfield State are moving on to the MASCAC Volleyball Tournament semifinals on Saturday after winning their quarterfinal matches on Wednesday night.

4 Bridgewater State 3, #5 MCLA 1              Box Score

The fifth seeded Bridgewater State University volleyball team received 15 kills from Kayla Baril and 31 assists from Picabo Miskiv as they held off the fourth seeded MCLA Trailblazers, 3-1, in the quarterfinal round of the 2017 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Volleyball Tournament.

With the win, the Bears (8-21) advance to the tournament semifinals and will face the top-seeded Worcester State Lancers on Saturday at 2:30pm in Worcester. MCLA finishes the season at 11-18 overall.

The Bears came out firing as they took advantage of some Trailblazer errors to take the first set 25-16. MCLA committed 12 attack errors in the opening set to give the Bears the early lead.  

Bridgewater would take command by holding off MCLA 25-22 in the second set to take a 2-0 lead and appear in complete control.

The Bears took a 24-23 lead in the third set and appeared headed for a sweep, but MCLA scored the final three points to push the Bears to a fourth set.

In the fourth set, the Bears closed out the match 25-17. Baril closed the match with her second ace of the evening to clinch the match for the Bears.

Baril was outstanding with 15 kills on 35 attacks.  She hit a match best .286 for the Bears. Alexis Duarte contributed ed seven kills for Bridgewater. Miskiv added nine digs to her 31 assists. Abigail Gardner paced the defense with 11 digs while Miskiv and Cassidy Tyros each had nine.

For MCLA, they were led by Brooke Queripel who ended with a match best 16 kills.  Sara LaFreniere had seven kills while Maggie Allenfinished with 6.  Brianne O'Rourke notched five kills to go along with a match-best seven blocks.

Natasha Stewart and Tayler Wiese combined for 32 assists in the setback. Mele Enomoto tallied 16 digs while Stewart and Michelle Lagaadded ten apiece.

MCLA finished with 46 total errors in the contest compared to 30 for the Bears.

3 Westfield State 3, #6 Salem State 0                      Box Score

The Westfield State Owls defeated Salem State 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, 25-16) in the opening round of the 2017 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference volleyball tournament in the Woodward Center on Wednesday, Nov. 1.

With the straight sets win, the Owls advance to the semifinals and take on second seed Framingham State at 5:00 p.m. on the campus of top seeded Worcester State. The Vikings finish their season with an 11-16 mark.

The Owl hitters have been plagued by injuries for most of October but are getting healthy for the playoff run. They were led by Brianna Starkey's (Rockland, MA/ Rockland) game-high 14 kills in only her second outing since Oct. 7.

Brigid Murray (Norfolk/ King Philip Reg.) connected for 31 assists and four service aces in the win.

Ainsley Macleod (Hampden/ Minnechaug) and Mia Jeronimo (Ludlow, MA/ Ludlow) pitched in nine and seven kills respectfully for Westfield.

Maddi O'Connor (Hamilton/ Hamilton) led the Viking attack with six kills and Hannah Mullarkey (Salem/ Salem) headlined the defense with 16 digs.

Lizzie Taylor (Medfield/ Medfield) picked up 25 digs for the Owls.

Westfield State posted a 9-3 advantage in service aces on the night and only trailed once in the three set affair.

Releases courtesy of Bridgewater State and Westfield State Sports Information