Owls Fall to Rams in Semifinal Showdown

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Lauren Carnes (Westfield, Mass.) piled up a career high 24 kills, but second-seeded Westfield State was outlasted by third-seeded Framingham State in five sets in a MASCAC Semifinal match from the Woodward Center on Thursday night.

The Rams (18-12) advance into the MASCAC Championship game where they will meet top-seeded Bridgewater State on Saturday at 2:00 P.M.

Framingham grabbed the opening set and the third set while the Owls managed to respond in sets two and four before the Rams were able to eke out a fifth set victory (25-19, 19-25, 25-18, 21-25, 15-13).

The Owls were forced to dig deep just to force a decisive final set, trailing 20-18 late in set four. Morgan Dority (Walpole, Mass.) leaped up for a solo block, then an ace by Shaneidy Hernandez (Springfield, Mass.) tied the frame at 20. Westfield pulled ahead after a Rams error then a kill by Carnes punctuated a timely four-point run. Three of the next four points went in the Owls favor with Hanna Nihill (Chandler, Ariz.) notching a kill to set up a fifth frame.

There were six different ties in set number five. With the score tied at nine, Westfield scored the following three points with Hernandez serving up another ace to help spring a 12-9 lead to inch three points away from advancing. Framingham did not blink with their backs against the wall, scoring three straight points with Natalie Reynolds (Beverly, Mass.) and Emma Dobbins (Henniker, N.H.) rising up for a block to even the set at 12.

The ensuing point resulted in a kill from Carnes but was quickly traded by an Owls error to bring the match to a tie again. Two long, drawn-out volleys followed, both ending in the Rams favor. A thunderous kill from Reynolds, her 20^th of the night, pushed the Rams to match point before a tense volley ended in additional net front presence for Framingham: A block by Reynolds and Stella Bailey (Wrentham, Mass.) to send Framingham to the title bout. The Rams front line proved to be too much to handle, recording 22 block assists as a team to persevere past Westfield.

Carnes and Hanna Nihill were both sensational for Westfield, both tallying career-high kill numbers while combining for 44 kills with Nihill registering 20 kills to follow Carnes' outing.

Dority had 49 assists, capping her senior year with 724 dimes and 1767 career helpers which is top five in program history. Four different Owls compiled ten plus digs with Zurielys Rivera (Caguas, Puerto Rico) leading all players with 22 digs. Mary Heneghan (Round Rock, Texas) had four blocks to pace the team.

Reynolds extended her MASCAC leading-kill number, registering 20 more tonight for 427 spikes on the season. She also tied Dobbins with a game-high six blocks. Jamie Moniz (Swansea, Mass.) contributed 14 kills and five blocks. Bailey racked up 52 assists and Carly Beaulieu (Sutton, Mass.) added 22 digs.

For Westfield, their season ends with a overall record of 15-11 after posting a 7-1 record in the MASCAC during the regular season.