Lauren Westlund spikes the ball during against Saint Joseph’s College. Photo by Beacon Athletics.

Schedules, scores and statistics are provided by beaconsathletics.com, see website for more information. 

After a 1–3 start, the UMass Boston women’s volleyball team has ignited and is taking over the competition. They have not only won their last three games against Anna Maria College, Massachusetts Maritime Academy and Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, they’ve won in convincing fashion, sweeping all three schools on the road (1).

For their trip to Worcester, Mass., they faced off against Anna Maria College in the first half of the doubleheader. The first set was relatively close, but Taryn Broughal, the Beacons’ kill leader, put it away at the end securing the 25–21. That was the end of anything close between the two schools (2).

The Beacons absolutely dominated the rest of the game. They won the second set with relative ease, 25–11. The third set started with a 7–3 AMCAT lead, but that was quickly overcome, and the Beacons closed out the match 25–17. The Beacons earned their second win and second sweep of the season (2).

Massachusetts Maritime Academy was their opponent for the second half of the doubleheader, which was a rout from the start. They won all three sets 25–12, 25–6 and 25–10. They manhandled the Buccaneers, outkilling them 36–8 in kills, an absurd ratio. The Beacons’ abilities were beginning to blossom, and they were not finished yet (2).

Their next opponent took them to Standish, Maine, where they’d face off against Saint Joseph’s College of Maine. The first set was as intense as they come, going well beyond 25. The Beacons forced three straight errors to turn a 24–21 deficit into 24 all. The teams traded points for a while until the score became 30–29, with the Beacons down (3).

It was then that the Beacons exploded to win the set, securing a 32–30 victory off of a Paige Coulson kill, one of her eight from the match. This was the Beacon’s highest-scoring set of the season, a very difficult way to start off the game. The Beacons did not let this phase them, though, as they continued their great play into the next set (3).

The second set was fairly competitive for most of it, but a 9–1 run put the Beacons in the driver’s seat. After being up six points, the Beacons got quite a scare as the Monks cut it to two, but managed to secure their victory with a Lauren Westlund kill (3).

The third and final set was once again a stressful one. The Beacons seemed to have it in the bag, being up 23–19, but the Monks came rallying back, tying it at 24. The Beacons remained calm, and Amelia Devlin set up Westlund and Coulson for the game-winning points, winning 26–24 and completing their third straight sweep (3).

This three-game win streak is the longest they’ve strung together since 2021, the year they won the Little East Conference tournament (3). It seems Coach Cheney is already making a strong impact on the team’s success. The Beacons officially have a winning percentage over .500 and are riding their momentum into the UMass Dartmouth Invitational, where their skills will really be put to the test (1).

The schools they are playing in the invitational, Mount Holyoke College, Babson College and Roger Williams University, are much tougher than the previous matchups. These teams all have records over .500 and are extremely talented (4,5,6).

This is the Beacons’ chance to show opposing schools that they are a squad to be messed with, hoping to replicate these performances against some of the best competition they’ll meet all season. But it seems like the Beacons’ heads are in the right space now to do exactly that, as they don’t plan on letting their flame go out anytime soon.

Sources:

1. https://beaconsathletics.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule
2. https://beaconsathletics.com/news/2023/9/9/womens-volleyball-sweep-dreams-volleyball-evens-record-behind-doubleheader-dominance.aspx
3. https://beaconsathletics.com/news/2023/9/12/womens-volleyball-volleyball-goes-the-distance-to-secure-third-straight-sweep.aspx
4. https://athletics.mtholyoke.edu/sports/wvball/2023-24/schedule
5. https://babsonathletics.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule
6. https://rwuhawks.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule/2023