Salve Regina rallies for classic five-set victory

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Salve Regina University women's volleyball faced elimination point on two occasions and survived for a five-set victory at Western New England, 3-2 (25-18,23-25,18-25,26-24,17-15), in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) semifinal in the Golden Bears' gymnasium.

The third-seeded Seahawks (20-9), who had lost 3-1 against the second-seeded Golden Bears (19-12) in the regular-season meeting on Oct. 22, advance to the conference championship for the second time in three years. Salve Regina will play at top-seed Roger Williams (21-5) in Bristol, R.I., on Saturday at noon, a re-match of the 2012 CCC Women's Volleyball Championship. The Hawks have won the last five conference titles (2009-2013).

Salve Regina took the first set tonight just as it had in the meeting two weeks ago. Tied at 9-9, junior middle blocker Emily Lipinski (Hampden, Mass.) started a 7-2 run for the Seahawks with her first kill of the match. Chrissy Fraga (Milford, Mass.) had a pair of service aces during a 4-0 run that pushed the visitors' lead to 20-13.

Senior Erin McGloin (West Islip, N.Y.) had three kills down the stretch of the first set as Salve Regina pulled away for a 25-18 win.

The Seahawks trailed by six (14-8) in the early going of the second set before rallying late and taking three straight points on McGloin's service to go up 22-21, including a kill from senior Jennifer Duggan (Merrimack, N.H.). Salve Regina got to 23 points first, but Western New England took the final three points of the set, first with a kill by Kelsey Armstrong and the last two on Seahawk attack errors.

Duggan and Lipinski sandwiched kills around a Golden Bear ball handling error in Set 3 for a 13-8 advantage, but Western New England had four different four-point streaks to go up 24-17 and the teams traded the last two points for a 25-18 final score and a 2-1 set lead for the higher seed.

The Golden Bears appeared ready to run away with Set 4, building a 9-1 lead. Seahawks won six of the next seven points including three kills from senior Katelyn Beauregard (Dartmouth, Mass.). The teams exchanged two pairs of 3-0 runs to put the score at 17-14 in favor of Western New England.

On McGloin's service, Salve Regina had a 5-0 run to go up one (18-17). Duggan followed her own kill (20-19) with a service ace (21-19). A kill by Kat Mendes (New Bedford, Mass.) put Salve Regina up, 22-20, before a sideout and then a kill from Taylor Violet (Tiverton, Mass.) made the score, 23-21.

Western New England reached a match-point opportunity in Set 4 when a kill by Kasey Cameron put the hosts up, 24-23. Mendes and McGloin had back-to-back kills to put set-point in the Seahawks' hands. Mendes' serve ended with an attack error from the Golden Bears to knot the match at two-sets all.

Grace Kucharski had a pair of service aces early in the final set and Western New England led 5-2. The teams traded sideouts for the next 11 points to put the service in Violet's hands with Salve Regina trailing, 10-8. Duggan and Beauregard had kills to tie the score at 10-10.

Salve Regina won four of the next six points including a pair of Beauregard kills, the last one coming on Dianna Tauro's (Melrose, Mass.) service, to face a couple of match point opportunities at 14-12. Western New England won the next three points, one kill for Olivia Lathrop and two for Cameron, to serve for the match a second time.

An attack error evened the final set at 15-15 before Mendes' kill gave Salve Regina its third match point opportunity. Fraga served and a long rally ensued before a Violet attack was dug by the Golden Bears and followed with an attack error.

Kasey Cameron led the Golden Bears with a match-high 14 kills and added 12 digs as well. Jessica Sincero had a match-high 44 assists and contributed nine digs as well. Grace Kucharski led all players with 28 digs and had three service aces along the way.

Jennifer Duggan led the Seahawks with 13 kills and also had 19 digs. Katelyn Beauregard added 11 kills and Taylor Violet dished 40 assists, had 10 digs and three block assists.

Both times Salve Regina has reached the title game have come as the No. 3 seed with a semifinal road victory. The Seahawks lost 3-0 to the Hawks on Sept. 26. Roger Williams won its semifinal with Endicott, 3-2, earlier tonight. Salve Regina has won both of its five-set matches in 2014, including a 3-2 win at Johnson & Wales University on Oct. 1.

The winner of Saturday's match earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championships.