SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Junior Madeline Barton had a match-high 18 kills to go with nine digs as the Mount Holyoke College volleyball team handed Western New England University its first loss of the season on Thursday night in Howard Gymnasium, winning 3-1 (25-13, 25-13, 21-25, 25-22).
The Lyons (4-1) defeated the visiting Golden Bears (6-1) for the first time since 2006, breaking a skid of eight straight losses against the local non-conference rivals.
Mount Holyoke served up 15 aces on the night, disrupting any momentum WNE wanted to build. Mount Holyoke attacked at a .162 percentage for the night to .069 for WNE.
Junior Sadie Duffrin (Minneapolis, Minn.) had a stellar match with three kills, 37 assists, seven digs and four aces. Sophomore Kyra Staples (Chatham, Ill.) had a match-high 20 digs.
Senior captain Lucie Berclaz (Hull, Mass.) had her first double-double of the season with 11 kills and 11 digs, and junior Elle Rimando (Mililani, Hawaii) contributed six kills.
Isabelle Petty was a force for the Golden Bears, posting six blocks in addition to nine kills on 16 attempts (.438). Alissa Hawes added 10 kills with 13 digs. Becca Mayer led WNE with 19 digs and Taylor Geist posted 31 assists with 10 digs.
The Lyons easily took the first two sets for a commanding 2-0 lead. But the Golden Bears collected themselves in the third set, attacking at a much-improved .235 rate. Petty had four kills on four attempts in the set, while Lea Barger and Alissa Hawes had three kills apiece. Barton had a whopping nine kills in the set, including the Lyons' final five points of the set. But at 24-21, Petty put down the set-clinching kill, sending the match to a fourth set.
A kill by Berclaz gave Mount Holyoke a 3-2 lead in the fourth set, and the Lyons didnt relinquish the lead the rest of the way, though WNE cut the score to two points at 21-19 and 24-22. A bad set by WNE ended the match.
Mount Holyoke will host a tri-match on Saturday: the Lyons play Husson University at 11am and Framingham State at 3pm, with the two visiting clubs facing one another at 1pm.
