ASTON, Pa. – The Ursinus Women's Volleyball team rallied after dropping the first set while winning a pair of extended sets to down Widener 3-1 (22-25, 27-25, 25-14, 33-31) on the first day of the Neumann Invitational on Friday evening.
 
 
With the win, the Bears won their fourth-straight match and improved to 5-4 overall. Meanwhile the Pride moved their record to 4-4 after bouncing back with a five-set win over Moravian following the first match.
 
 
Junior Caroline Sherman continued her dominant start to the season by blitzing her career-high of kills with 22 behind a .391 hitting percentage. Sherman has recorded double-digit kills in eight of the nine Bears contests this season and eclipsed 20+ kills for the first time in her career. Sophomore Mel Eglinton did a little of everything for the Bears with a career-high 20 digs along with posting 16 kills, three aces, and two blocks. Senior Haley Spotts added 11 kills and a sizzling .478 hitting percentage while tallying six blocks, one being the match-deciding block assisted with Sherman in the fourth set. Junior Rachel Bernard paced the offense with a season-high 30 assists while adding five digs and two aces. Sophomore Erin Dychdala added a season-high assist total as well with 22 in addition to recording three aces plus three blocks.
 
 
The first set went back and forth until the Bears surged ahead with five-straight points to go up 9-5 in the early portion of the match. Widener pulled their way back within one point at 11-10 but the Bears continued to maintain their lead and eventually stretched it back out to 17-13. However, Widener heated up from the floor and won 10 of the next 12 points, seven earned by kill, to go up 23-19. Ursinus rallied behind three points with two of them being Sherman kills to get within 24-22 before the Pride closed out the first set with a kill on the next rally.
 
 
Ursinus jumped on Widener to start the second set by going up 5-2 and extended their lead out to 12-6. The Bears won five-straight points on the second run with three coming from aces by Dychdala. The Pride took six of the next eight points to cut the Bears lead down to 14-12 before Ursinus countered by taking six of the next seven to take their largest lead of the set at 20-13. Five of the points in the run were fueled by kills from Eglinton. The Bears worked their lead out to 23-18 until Widener stormed back by winning six of the next seven points to tie the set at 24, all of which came from kills. Eglinton put the Bears ahead for good in the set behind two kills and Sherman finished off the hard-fought set win with a kill of her own.
 
 
Using momentum from the second set win, the Bears won six-straight points following an opening kill from the pride to go up 6-1. That set the tone for the third set as Ursinus did not allow the Pride to get within by more than three points in a dominant showing. Leading 10-7, the Bears won seven of the next eight points in a decisive run that ultimately put the set in their control. Ursinus put the finishing touches on the third set by winning five of the last seven points as they hit .483 as a team during the set.
 
 
The Bears once again gained the upper hand to start the fourth set by going up 4-1 and extended their advantage to 7-3. Ursinus responded to back-to-back Widener points by taking five of the next seven points to go up 12-7. Widener tied the set up at 14 behind taking seven of the next nine points and pulled in front for the first time in the set at 20-17 after winning five-straight points. The thrilling fourth set began to take form when the Bears responded by winning four of the next six points to get within one point of the Pride at 22-21. Spotts and Sherman helped tie the set at 23 with each tallying a kill and staved off the first set point by winning two-straight points to go up 25-24. Widener countered by pressuring the Bears with a second set point with two-straight points of their own, but Sherman kept the set going with a kill and tied things at 26. Ursinus fended off another set point by winning two-straight only to be answered by the Pride with two of their own and went up 29-28. The Bears answered once more with two-straight points before a kill by Widener evened things at 30. The set was tied one last time at 31 until a kill from Spotts and block by Sherman and Spotts ended the match.
 
 
Lilyanna Martucci and Abigail Herrin led the Pride with 12 kills apiece while Martucci added 17 digs plus four aces. Liz Barnes led Widener with 19 digs and Megan Barthol paced the Widener offense with a game-high 44 assists.
 
 
Ursinus is right back to work tomorrow, September 16th as they will take on Moravian and Messiah on day two of the Neumann Invitational starting at 10:00 a.m.