MILTON, Mass. – The Western New England University women's volleyball team outlasted Curry College in five sets on Wednesday night, winning 3-2 in conference action at Katz Gymnasium.

The Golden Bears erased a 2-1 deficit to take the final two games and won by set scores of 24-26, 25-15, 22-25, 25-10 and 15-13. Western New England improved to 3-9 on the season and registered their first Commonwealth Coast Conference match of the season.

The Curry attack was led by Lexi Pereira (Attleboro, Mass.) with 17 kills while Amanda Wood (Tokyo, Japan) had nine kills and Katelyn Giubbini (Newark, Calif.) added four. Alexis Bell (Salem, Conn.) dished out 29 assists while Wood effective at the service line with three aces as well for the Colonels.

On the defensive end, Jordyn Keith (Whitman, Mass.) and Bell had a match-leading 16 digs apiece and Hailey McDonnell (Methuen, Mass) had 14 for the visitors. At the net, Wood had two solo blocks.

Ashley Matthews led the charge for the visitors with 17 kills to go along with one assist and two service aces. Jenna Ferguson (Ellington, Conn.) contributed to the strong play with a double-double of 12 kills and 12 digs. Cassandra Holmes chipped in eight kills. In the middle, Jenna McCormack (Nashua, N.H.) topped the 40-assist plateau for with 41 helpers.

Defensively, four different Golden Bears recorded 10 or more digs led by McDonnell with 14. Ferguson chipped in 12 while Kiana Turner and Mathews finished with 11 and 10, respectively.

In the deciding fifth set, the teams traded the first 12 points (6-6). Three straight points off two kills and a service ace pushed the lead to 9-6. The set would eventually become tied at 11 after a kill from Giubbini. Western New England then captured four of the final six points to earn the five-set victory.  

Curry (2-7, 0-0 CCC) will next play at Husson University on Saturday, September 22 at 2:00 p.m. Western New England (3-9, 1-0 CCC) will travel to the University of New England on Saturday for a conference contest at 1:00 p.m.

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