DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols women's volleyball team fell in straight sets to Western New England in its Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opening match at home. The set scores in the setback were 22-25, 18-25, 22-25.
 
In the opening set, the Bison and Golden Bears traded points up until a service error gave WNE a 12-11 advantage. Later, Abigail Mayuri entered to serve for the home side and rattled off two straight points thanks to a service ace and a WNE attack error, giving Nichols a 16-13 lead, forcing the Golden Bears into a timeout. Out of the break, Western New England recorded four straight points to regain the lead and didn't look back, closing out the first frame with a kill by Rachel Critz.
 
The Golden Bears used five-straight points early in the second set to jump out to a 12-6 lead. The Bison were able to rally within three points, but another big run of six consecutive points helped the visitors to a 21-12 cushion to help send it to the third up 2-0.
 
A 7-0 run from the Golden Bears, put them up 10-4 early in the third set. A Liz Diorio service ace following a WNE attack error later brought the Bison back within three. A pair of kills from Haylee Granato and Sydney Ball caused a WNE timeout at 21-18, but the late Nichols comeback effort fell short as Sarah Scott put away a kill at match point to boost the Golden Bears to its first conference victory of the season.

Jayleen Fegan and Haylee Granato led the Nichols offensive charge with eight and four kills, respectively. Kya Burdier and Ruby St. Onge teamed up to dish out a combined 23 assists. Liz Diorio recorded 11 digs.
 
The Bison return to play this Thursday at Mitchell, beginning at 6 p.m.