ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Ursinus Volleyball team swept a pair of matches in straight sets on Saturday afternoon at the Cedar Crest Tri-Match. The Bears downed the host Falcons (25-17, 25-17, 25-15) before sweeping the Gophers (25-10, 25-10, 25-9).
 
 
With the wins, the Bears improved their overall record to 9-4 and have now won three straight matches. Meanwhile, the Falcons stand at 5-10 overall while the Gophers fall to 0-11.
 
 
Senior Caroline Sherman combined for 18 kills in the tri-match with 10 of them coming against Cedar Crest. She hit .368 against Goucher and posted three aces against Cedar Crest. Junior Mel Eglinton totaled eight kills in each game and hit a near perfect .800 against Goucher. Junior Reena Robinson combined for 10 kills between the two matches and first-year Marissa Ortiz impressed with five kills against Goucher. Senior Rachel Bernard registered a combined 30 assists between the two matches along with five aces. Senior Emma Illovsky tallied 11 digs in each of the two matches and posted six assist against Cedar Crest.
 
 
Ursinus 3, Cedar Crest 0
 
The Bears and Falcons traded points to open the first set which left Cedar Crest up 5-4 early. However, Ursinus blew open the first set with nine straight points to take a 13-5 lead. The Falcons moved back within five points of Ursinus at 14-9 to only be answered by back-to-back kills from Robinson. The Bears extended their lead to 18-11 and shut the door on the Falcons after they made it 19-14 by winning six of the last nine points.
 
Ursinus won the first four points of the second set behind two aces from Bernard but the Falcons battled back to tie the set early on at five. The Bears went up 7-5 after two straight kills until Cedar Crest took its first lead at 9-7 with four straight points. Ursinus won five of the next six points to go back up 12-10 and extended its lead to 14-11. Cedar Crest got back within one point at 14-13 until the Bears gained control of the set by winning eight of the next 10 points to go up 22-15. The Bears won the final three points with two aces coming from junior Erin Dychdala in that stretch.
 
 
It was all Bears in the third set as they won the first seven points behind five kills and took a commanding 9-1 lead. The Falcons worked their way back within four points at 12-8 before Ursinus stormed away for good by winning six straight points to go up 18-8. The Bears continued to pull away and closed out the match by taking three of the last four points. Ursinus hit .333 as a team in the third set.
 
 
Ursinus 3, Goucher 0
 
After trading the first four points, the Bears won six straight points to go up 8-2 and blew open the set by winning 11 of the next 14 points to go up 18-5. Ursinus went up 20-6 and won five straight points to end the set after the Gouchers won four straight points of their own.
 
 
It was once again all Ursinus to start the second set as they took a commanding 10-1 lead behind nine straight point wins. The Bears then won eight straight points behind a mix of kills and aces to extend their lead out to 21-6. Ursinus worked its way to another dominant set win and sophomore Daejah Bazemore capped it with a kill. The Bears hit at least .400 as a team in each of the first two sets.
 
 
Goucher took the early lead at 3-1 in the third set but the Bears left no doubt behind winning 18 of the next 20 points to go up 19-5. Ursinus closed out the match by winning their final six points by kills and limited the Gophers to hit just -.192 as a team.
 
 
The Bears return to action on Tuesday, October 1st as they will travel to face Swarthmore in their Centennial Conference opener at 7:00 p.m.