Volleyball Wins Wild First Set, Sweep Vikings

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Five different Westfield State players tallied five or more kills as the Owls used a balanced scoring attack to take all three sets from Salem State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference match from the Woodward Center on Wednesday night.

The Owls improve to 7-8 overall and 2-1 in the MASCAC while the Vikings drop to 5-10 on the season and 0-2 in the conference. Westfield battled to a 33-31 set one win before cruising in the final two sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-13.

Emily Washkalavitch (Oxford, Penn.) led the Owls with nine kills followed by Mary Heneghan (Round Rock, Texas) and Shaneidy Hernandez (Springfield, Mass.) with six kills apiece. Morgan Dority (Walpole, Mass.) collected 25 assists and tied the team lead in digs (13) with Zurielys Rivera (Caguas, Puerto Rico).

Presley Shairs (Salem, Mass.), the Vikings leader in kills on the season, led the way with 13 kills while Sabina Kamanda (Dracut, Mass.) totaled double figure kills with 11. Celia Carbone (Lynnfield, Mass.) added 30 assists and 13 digs, leading in both categories for Salem.

Set one went deep into extra points after a furious rally from the Vikings at the end of the frame. A service error from Salem gave the Owls a 19-11 advantage. The Vikings chipped away at the deficit but another service error later in the set put the Owls at set point, 24-20. Salem would fight off three set points, converting back-to-back kills to tie the set at 24.

From the point of the tie, both teams had a pair of set points with Henegan delivering a crucial kill to knot the frame at 30 each. Threatening to steal the set again with a one point lead, the Vikings could not return an attacking play from Dority, tying the score before a pair of aces from Washkalavitch secured a set one victory for Westfield.

From that point forward, Westfield took control of the match, scoring seven of the first eight points of set two. Salem would eventually tie the game at 17, but eight consecutive points for the Owls closed the frame: Two kills from Emma Nihill (Chandler, Ariz.) and one from Washkalavitch and Dority.

Westfield then piled up 16 of the final 20 points in set three to run away with the match as Washkalavitch concluded the match with an ace, the Owls 13^th of the night.

Westfield State will hit the road for their next matches, a tri-match at Anna Maria as the Owls will face the AMCATS (in a non-conference match) and Fisher College at 11:00 A.M. and 1:00 P.M. from Paxton, Mass.