Blazers Fall Short in Season Opener to WNEU
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Western New England (1-0,0-0 CCC) | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
|
Elms (0-1,0-0 Great Northeast) | 23 | 18 | 15 | 0 |
Chicopee, MA – The Elms Blazers women's volleyball team opened their 2021 season away last night, challenging the Western New England University Golden Bears. The Blazers battled all match before falling 0-3 to the Golden Bears.
THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elms 0 | WNEU 3
RECORDS: Elms (0-1-0) | WNEU (1-0-0)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The first set started with the Blazers scoring the first point. The back-and-forth action began with the two teams trading points until the Golden Bears led 5-3. This jumpstarted the Elms offense to score four unanswered points to take a 7-5 lead after back to back service aces from Alanys Cruz Diaz. The Blazers trailed by one midway through the set at 14-15. Despite a strong push at the end to stay within one at 23-24, the Golden Bears took the first set with a kill, ending it 25-23.
The Blazers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set after a pair of WNE errors and back to back service aces from Govanna Rosado. The Golden Bears answered with a run of their own, going up 12-5. The Blazers narrowed the lead to one at 17-18 after a kill by Jaylianne Ramos Figueroa and a Golden Bear error. The late push was not enough for the Blazers to overcome the early deficit as the second set concluded with a Golden Bear push to close out 18-25.
The third set started with more back and forth action after a 0-3 deficit for the Blazers as the pulled within one at 8-9. The Blazer were down 12-15 midway through the set, but couldn't close the gap following some late Golden Bear runs. Despite some late set kills from Ramos and Natalia Caraballo Rivera, the Blazers dropped the final set 15-25.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
-Alanys Cruz Diaz led the Blazers with 6 kills and a hitting percentage of 0.222 as well as a team high 5 aces in the match.
-Kianna Lozada Pagan led the team with 14 digs with Jaylianne Ramos Figueroa adding 9 of her own.
-Natalia Caraballo Rivera dished out a team high 8 assists, 2 kills, and 7 digs.
UP NEXT:
- The Blazers are back in action as they host their Blazer Invitational where they will face Colby-Sawyer, SUNY Cobleskill and WPI throughout Friday, September 3rd and Saturday, September 4th.
STAY CONNECTED:
- For the latest on Elms College Athletics, follow the Blazers via social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
