BOSTON – The fourth-seeded Suffolk volleyball team was stunned by fifth seed Western New England in straight sets in the Conference of New England (CNE) First Round Tuesday night.  tournament eliminating match came by set scores 31-29, 25-22 and 25-19.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 0 | Western New England 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (23-7) | Western New England (21-7) 

SET ONE RECAP (31-29, WESTERN NEW ENGLAND)

• Suffolk jumped out to a 6-1 lead. 
• The Golden Bears scored seven straight points out of their first timeout to flip the script in their favor, 7-6. 
• The set was level at 20-all after the score evened 10 times and the lead switched six.
• WNE strung three points together to put the Rams in their largest hole of the night, 23-20. 
• Suffolk battled back with a 3-0 run of its own. That spurt saw a Golden Bears attack errors sandwich an Aislinn Lanigan ace, her second on of the night. 
• The back-and-forth affair continued to keep Smith Court on its feet as matters would go on to lock six more times with the last coming at 29-29.
• The eight lead exchange of the stanza would hurt the most for the Rams as Western New England went ahead on a Lea Barber kill and sealed the set when Isabelle Petty and Rachel Critz combined for a block. 

SET TWO RECAP (25-22, WESTERN NEW ENGLAND)

• Like the first, Suffolk jumped out to an early edge, 7-4. 
• The Golden Bears battled back with a 5-1 rally to slip in front, 9-8. 
• Matters would even twice before WNE jumped ahead five, 18-13, to force Scott Blanchard to take a timeout. 
• The gap grew to as many as six and stayed there until 21-16. 
• The Rams mounted a comeback with seven straight points to take the lead, 22-21. 
• Four unanswered by the Golden Bears closed out the stanza, 25-22.  

SET THREE RECAP (25-19, WESTERN NEW ENGLAND)

• Suffolk held onto a 7-5 edge before Western New England took control, 12-8, behind a 7-1 stretch. 
• The Rams battled back and managed to knot things at 17. 
• The Golden Bears handled things the rest of the way as they outscored the blue-and-gold 8-2 to take the set and match. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• McKenna Keowen registered a 17-kill, 13-dig double-double with one assist. 
• Sami Shore supplied six kills, two blocks and one helper. 
• Chloe Clement added five kills and four digs. 
• Jayla Martinez contributed 20 assists, four digs, four aces and one kill. 
• Lanigan notched 10 handouts and was one dig shy of a double-double. She also had two aces. 
• Morgan Kelsey recorded 18 digs and one assist.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk competed in its 18th league postseason tournament, fourth in the CNE (formerly CCC). 
• The blue-and-gold played in the conference tourney as the fourth seed for the fourth time in program history, first since 2022, and second time in the CNE. 
• Suffolk hosted its fourth tournament outing in program history, first since 2002 and second in the CNE.
• The Rams are now 2-2 when hosting a playoff game overall and 1-1 at home in the CNE Tourney. 
• Suffolk moved to 4-6 in the postseason in the Blanchard era. 
• The Rams are now 2-4 in the CNE Tournament all-time. 
• Suffolk and Western New England met in the CNE postseason for the second time. 
• The postseason clash was the second-ever between the Rams and Golden Bears, first since the 2005 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Quarterfinals, another 4 vs. 5 match-up. 
• Suffolk is 0-2 all-time versus WNE in a league postseason. 
• Keowen produced her 14th double-double of the year and 30th of her collegiate career.