Volleyball falls to Bridgewater State 3-1 in MASCAC Quarterfinals
Brooke Queripel collected 16 kills for MCLA in their MASCAC quarterfinal match against Bridgewater State on Wednesday night
North Adams, MA- The fifth seeded Bridgewater State University volleyball team received 15 kills from Kayla Baril and 31 assists from Elexi Miskiv as they held off the fourth seeded MCLA Trailblazers 3-1 in the quarterfinal round of the 2017 MASCAC Volleyball championships. With the win, the Bears (8-21) will advance and face the top seeded Worcester State Lancers on Saturday at 2:30pm in Worcester, MA. MCLA finishes their season at 11-18 overall.
The Bears came out firing as they took advantage of some Trailblazer errors to take the first set 25-16. MCLA committed 12 attack errors in the opening set to give the Bears the early lead.
Bridgewater would take command by holding off MCLA 25-22 in the second set to take a 2-0 lead and appear in complete control. The Trailblazers had other ideas though in the third.
The Bears took a 24-23 lead in the third set and appeared headed for a sweep but MCLA scored the final three points to push the Bears to a fourth set.
In the fourth set, the Bears closed out the match 25-17. Baril closed the match with her second ace of the evening to clinch the match for the Bears.
Baril was outstanding with 15 kills on 35 attacks. She hit a match best .286 for the Bears. Alexis Duarte added 7 kills for Bridgewater. Miskiv added 9 digs to her 31 assists. Abigail Gardner paced the defense with 11 digs while Miskiv and Cassidy Tyros each had 9.
For MCLA, they were led by Brooke Queripel who ended with a match best 16 kills. Sara LaFreniere had 7 kills while Maggie Allen ended with 6. Brianne O'Rourke ended with 5 kills but added a match best 7 blocks.
Natasha Stewart and Tayler Wiese combined for 32 assists in the setback. Mele Enomoto ended with 16 digs while Stewart and Michelle Laga added 10.
MCLA ended with 46 total errors in the contest compared to 30 for the Bears.
The match ended the careers of Trailblazer seniors Michelle Laga, Maggie Allen, Melissa Hopkins, Mele Enomoto, Brianne O'Rourke, and Tayler Wiese.