Lancers Take Down Bridgewater St. in 5 Set Battle

Worcester, MA- Worcester looked to make it two straight tonight in the Wednesday night battle on Brissette Court. The Lancers were coming off a three sets to one victory over Fitchburg last Friday and aimed to ride that momentum the match. The Lancers pulled off the victory with a come from behind win, claiming the match 3-2 (12-25, 25-22, 25-17, 16-25, 15-13)

The first set saw Worcester State struggle to get ahead of Bridgewater as they jumped out to a mid-set lead off the services of Kim Gowell and Victoria Caiano. By the time senior Erin Gaffney (Worcester, MA)was able to stem the rush, with a block on Becca Whalen the Bears had already gathered a 12-point lead in the set. Worcester State changed the pace in the second set forcing a more back and forth battle that saw three tie scores and two lead changes before a service by junior Maeve Cadogan (Wilmington, MA) pushed Worcester ahead to a lead that they refused to give up. Bridgewater attempted to overcome the distance, but Gaffney worked the net all set to preserve the victory.

Worcester State charged to an early third set lead off Cadogan and sophomore Megan Bardis (Rutland, MA) who served Worcester into a six-point lead over the Bears. Solid team effort throughout the set pushed the Bears into numerous errors and kills by first year Kaitlin Cueva (Tewksbury, MA) and senior Gabby Alberghini (Northborough, MA) quickly put the game out of reach. Bridgewater found their rhythm again in the fourth set keeping pace with the Lancers point for point until Gowell stepped into the fray and secured six points in the fourth set that pushed a 11-13 set to a 25-16 finish to force the deciding fifth set.

Worcester stepped into the fifth set with the determination to win, and they never wavered. The moment they nabbed the lead at 2-1 they refused to give it up and kills by Alberghini, first year Cassandra Millea (Orange, Ct) and sophomore Angela Colonis (Waterford, CT) helped build up the lead for the Lancers who ultimately closed out that set with a 15-13 victory and took home the match.

Senior Camryn Burgio (Quincy, MA) led Worcester State with 12 digs and 8 kills while Alberghini racked up another 10 kills on the night. Gaffney finished the match with 5 blocks for the Lancers.

Bridgewater State falls to 6-4, 2-1 while Worcester State moves to 3-11 and 2-1 in the conference. The Blue and gold are next in action on Sunday October 1, when they travel to Wentworth for a tri-match with Eastern Nazarene and Wentworth. The first match is scheduled to begin at 1pm.