GAME ONE:

SCORE: Wheaton 3 - Western New England (26-24, 25-23, 25-21)

RECORDS: Wheaton (20-3) - WNE (8-14)

LOCATION: Norton, Mass. (Emerson Gymnasium) 

THE RUNDOWN:  

• The Wheaton College volleyball team returned to Emerson Gymnasium Saturday afternoon for a non-conference match-up against the Western New England Golden Bears with the Lyons earning a hard-fought 3-0 victory. 
• First-year Adara Hamilton led all players with 11 kills with a match-best .391 kill percentage, while also picking up one of Wheaton's 13 aces and 10 digs. 
• Becca Houghton ended the match with 28 assists, while Cat MacGregor led the team with 17 digs. Senior Claire Cansler ended with a match-high three blocks. 
• In what proved to be a tightly contested match statistically, the Lyons found the edge at the serving line, ending with 13 aces to the Golden Bears five, while also holding an advantage at the net, concluding the match with 11 blocks to WNE's three. 
• Wheaton received a lot of help from WNE in the opening set, surging to an 8-1 advantage courtesy of six Golden Bear errors. WNE remained patient and slowly chipped away at the deficit throughout the set, eventually tying the match at 20-20, before taking a 22-21 lead on a Wheaton error. A bad set by the Golden Bears made it a 24-24 contest, which was followed by an ace from Houghton and yet another WNE error, handing Wheaton the 26-24 win. 
• The Golden Bears came out strong in the second set, running up a 12-3 lead. After trailing nearly the entire set, Wheaton finally captured its first lead at 23-22 on a Casey Dinga kill. Wheaton was able to get another point off a WNE error before Dinga put down another well-placed ball to hand the Lyons the come from behind 25-23 win.  
• The third set was the most competitive of the day with the two sides both going on long runs at the start, while also tying the contest six times. A 19-19 deadlock was broken by a Golden Bear error, which handed the lead to Wheaton for good. The Lyons went on to close out the set on aces by Houghton and Dinga, as well as a kill from Hamilton and two more Golden Bear errors. 

THE BASICS:

• Attacking percentage: Wheaton .087 - WNE .082
• Service aces: Wheaton 13 - WNE 5
• Digs: Wheaton 63 - WNE 63
• Block solos: Wheaton 1 - WNE 1
• Block assists: Wheaton 10  - WNE 2

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GAME TWO:

SCORE: Wheaton 3 - University of New England (28-26, 25-22, 25-21)

RECORDS: Wheaton (21-3) - UNE (8-14)

LOCATION: Norton, Mass. (Emerson Gymnasium)

THE RUNDOWN:  

• The Lyons celebrated their senior captains, Cansler and MacGregor, for their work with the program over the last four seasons before the start of the UNE match. 
• Hamilton once again led the Lyons in kills with a match-high 14, while Cansler contributed 10. Houghton ended with a match-high 37 assists, taking her career total to 2,415. Houghton also led the team in digs with 17. 
• Wheaton struggled at the start of the first set, immediately falling behind 8-1. Undeterred, the Lyons clawed their way back into it with strong attacks from Hamilton, Cansler, Haley McCreight, and Nikita Selivan. Wheaton tied the match at 23-23 but did not capture the lead until a Selivan kill made it 27-26. A Nor'Easter error ended the set in Wheaton's favor 28-26. 
• The second set also saw UNE jump to an early lead, but this time Wheaton responded with a run of its own to take a 7-6 advantage. The Nor'Easters responded with a 7-2 run of its own, making it a 13-9 contest. Wheaton put together a string of points on a Maggie Shafer serve, which handed the Lyons a 20-16 lead. Wheaton did just enough down the stretch to pull out the victory, closing out the set on a McCreight kill. 
• As they did all match, the Nor'Easters opened the third set with yet another early run, this time taking an 8-3 lead. Like the opening set, the Lyons were on their heels most of the game, not taking the lead until a Nor'Easter error broke a 21-21 tie. Wheaton took full advantage of the momentum shift, closing out the set and the match with three straight monster kills from Cansler and Hamilton.  

THE BASICS:

• Attacking percentage: Wheaton .141 - UNE .110
• Service aces: Wheaton 8 - UNE 4
• Digs: Wheaton 85 - UNE 75
• Block solos: Wheaton 2 - UNE 2
• Block assists: Wheaton 4 - UNE 6

UP NEXT: Wheaton returns to New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. against WPI in Emerson Gymnasium. VIDEO / LIVE STATS