Owls Topple Mass. Maritime Behind 21-Kill Outing from Carnes

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State junior Lauren Carnes (Westfield, Mass.) lit up the scoreboard with a career-high 21 kills to power the Owls past Mass. Maritime in four sets (25-21, 25-12, 23-25, 25-14) as part of a MASCAC road match on Saturday evening.

The victory moves the Owls to 5-1 in the MASCAC and 13-9 overall while the Buccaneers drop to 1-5 in the conference and 5-17 on the season.

Carnes has dominated in the attacking game for the Owls in her last two games since returning from an injury which sidelined her for the previous nine matches. She totaled a whopping 52 attacks and killed 21 of them to go along with a pristine .327 hitting percentage. Carnes has now racked up 34 kills across a pair of wins this week.

Senior setter Morgan Dority (Walpole, Mass.) also logged a career-best 42 assists, resetting her career high which was recorded earlier this season at Rhode Island College.

Zurielys Rivera (Caguas, Puerto Rico) was the team leader in digs with 20 as four different Owls earned double digit digs. Rivera also registered four service aces to lead all players in the match.

Hanna Nihill (Chandler, Ariz.) was the second Owls player to reach double figure kills, notching ten on the night.

The Owls won the second and fourth sets by 13 and 11 points as it was the first set that put momentum on the Westfield side. The Buccaneers held a 14-9 lead in set one before the Owls charged forward with ten consecutive points, nine coming on the service game of Dority. Two blocks, with Shaneidy Hernandez (Springfield, Mass.) involved in both, and a pair of kills from Carnes were associated with the scoring burst, opening a 19-14 lead. Mass.

Maritime stormed back with a run of their own to cut the Owls lead to one point (21-20), but Hanna Nihill halted the comeback with back-to-back kills. Mary Heneghan (Round Rock, Tex.) followed with a kill to move the Owls to set point where Emma Nihill (Chandler, Ariz.) spiked home the winner.

With Westfield in front two sets to one, the Owls distanced themselves to cruise in the final set by tallying the final eight points with Hernandez and Dority blocking the ball at the net for the match-clinching point.

Westfield State's 5-1 league mark is currently tied for second place with MCLA and half a game behind Bridgewater who is unbeaten in the MASCAC with a 5-0 record. The Owls will face a top tier opponent on Wednesday, hosting MCLA on senior night at 7:00 P.M. from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass.