Women's Volleyball Begins Title Quest Against Worcester

WESTFIELD, Mass. — As the regular season wrapped up, the Westfield State women's volleyball team was selected the number one-seed heading into the conference tournament. On Thursday, November 14 at 7:00 P.M., the Owls will take on the fifth-seeded Worcester State Lancers in the semifinals of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference playoffs from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass.

Westfield State (14-12, 7-0) earned the top seed going undefeated in the regular season in conference play. The Owls faced the Lancers once this season and won in three sets. Although it was a clean sweep, the Owls only won by a combined 13 points including a 27-25 second set victory.

Fifth-seeded Worcester State enters the semifinals after a three-set sweep of fourth-seeded MCLA on Tuesday night.

Two seasons ago, these two teams faced off in the MASCAC championship that went in favor of the Owls 3-1. Last season, both teams faced off twice and split the season series with the Owls winning the designated conference match.

Sydney Cummins (Nicholasville, Ky.) led Westfield in this year's matchup versus the Lancers in attacking stats as she had 42 total attacking plays with 14 being kills. Cummins this season finished fifth in the MASCAC in total attacks (727) and fifth in kills (216). Cummins also finished second in the MASCAC in total attacks per set with 8.76. Cummins has won seven MASCAC Player of the Week honors in her rookie season, two of which were both MASCAC Player and Rookie selections.

Emma Nihill (Chandler, Ariz.) and Hanna Nihill (Chandler, Ariz.) were second on the Owls in kills and total attacks in the last meeting against Worcester. They both tallied ten kills and the twins combined for 55 total attacks. Emma tallied 185 kills, 689 total attacks, and averaged 8.20 attacks per set, which is sixth best in the conference. Hanna accumulated 175 kills, 579 total attacks, and averaged 7.24 attacks per set.

From a defending standpoint, Chloe Schuld (Sycamore, Ill.) led the game with 19 digs. Schuld had 301 digs in the regular season, sixth best in the MASCAC. Sarah Bingham (Reno, Nev.) had a pair of solo blocks and shared a block in the win versus Worcester. Bingham leads the MASCAC in both solo blocks (31) and blocks assisted (54).

The winner of the game on Thursday between Westfield and Worcester will head to the MASCAC championship match against the winner of Framingham State and Bridgewater State on Saturday, November 15.

Written by Hunter Briggs - WSU Sports Information Graduate Assistant