Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

BOSTON – Whitman College's volleyball team earned a split Friday at the 2014 UMass Boston Invitational by downing Middlebury (Vt.) College, 3-1, after falling to Western Connecticut State University, 3-2, earlier in the afternoon. Natalia Zea finished the day with 17 kills, 6.0 blocks and six digs while Megan Bafus piled up 24 kills between the two matches against a pair of East Coast squads that annually contend for spots in the NCAA tournament.

The Missionaries (4-3) rolled out to a 2-1 lead over Middlebury (0-1) after the opening games of Whitman's second match of the afternoon. Abby Seethoff closed out the 25-15 Game 1 victory with a pair of kills, and in Game 2 Whitman used a mid-match streak to move from a 10-8 deficit into a 12-10 lead in a match that would end with the Missionaries in front, 25-21. The Panthers would claw back with a 25-21 win in the third, but Whitman capitalized on a number of attacking errors early in Game 4 to go ahead 9-7, after trailing 7-6, and never trailed in clinching the match with a 25-21 win. Middlebury rallied to tie the score at 15-15 but a service error by the Panthers and a Zea kill provided the Missionaries with an advantage Middlebury wasn't able to overcome in its first match of the season.

Bafus finished with a match-high 13 kills and chipped in defensively with seven digs. Seethoff contributed eight kills with Zea adding five in the Whitman attack. Shae Kanakaole registered eight kills and 10 digs in the victory.

Defensively at the net, Zea came up with 1.5 blocks as did Rachael Haggen. Hannah Linsenmayer's 22 digs were a match-high with Seethoff coming up with eight more digs while Bafus totaled seven.

The day's opening match for Whitman turned on a pivotal fourth game.

The Missionaries broke out quickly with a 25-17 win in the first game against Western Conn. State but the Colonials pulled back even with a 25-21 Game 2 win.

Whitman simply dominated Game 3 by a score of 25-8 to move within reach of the win, but Western fought back in the match's penultimate game.

Game 4 saw 11 ties and four lead changes during a taut battle between East and West Coast. The Colonials rallied to tie the score at 23-23 then won three of the next four points for a 26-24 win. Western led from start to finish in its 15-9 Game 5 victory to clinch the match and stretch its season-opening win streak to 10 games.

In addition to Zea's and Bafus' efforts on the day, Kanakaole accumulated 18 kills, 30 digs and 3.5 blocks, Linsenmayer had match-highs in digs during both contests to finish with 40 while Anna Dawson accrued 35 set assists against Western and eight more in the Middlebury match. Riley Jordan handled the bulk of setting duties against Western, coming up with 15 to lead the Missionaries.

The UMass Boston Invitational continues Saturday with Whitman squaring off against Williams (Mass.) College at 10 a.m. PT followed by a match-up with the host school at noon.