Women's Volleyball Falls 3-1 vs. Bridgewater State; Carbone Records 1,000th Career Assist

THE BASICS 
Salem State, 1 vs. Bridgewater State, 3 (25-19, 25-20, 25-27, 25-11)

Records: 
Bridgewater State Bears (12-4, 6-0 MASCAC)
Salem State University Vikings (9-13, 2-5 MASCAC)

Location: Salem, Mass. - O'Keefe Center

Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2025

THE LEAD—  The Salem State women's volleyball team dropped a hard-fought 3-1 loss to Bridgewater State Wednesday evening at the O'Keefe Center. During the match, Celia Carbone (Lynnfield, Mass.) recorded her 1,000th career assist. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Bridgewater had early control throughout the first set as the vistors jumped out to a 15-9 advantage. However, Salem trimmed the deficit to two (16-14) courtesey of a 5-1 rally. Presley Shairs (Salem, Mass.) led the scoring with three kills. Both sides continued to go back and forth and after a Bridgewater service error made it 19-17, the Bears closed out the first on a 6-2 run for the 25-19 set win.
• The Bears continued their momentum in the second set by grabbing a quick 14-9 lead. Salem once again continued to chip away and found themselves down one (16-15) behind a 6-2 stretch. During the rally, Ariana Barrows (Danvers, Mass.) led the way with three kills. Despite being down one, Bridgewater held off any other Salem momentum and outscored the Vikings, 9-5 to secure the 25-20 set two win.
• In the third set, the Bears raced out to a 11-4 lead and looked to be in control. However, Salem grabbed its first lead in the set when the squad utilzied a 9-1 surge to go up 13-12 thanks to multiple Bridgewater errors.
• After both sides pushing each other back and forth, Salem would find themselves facing defeat down 25-24, but the Blue and Orange pushed off elimination by scoring three-straight points highlighted by three Bears errors that gave the Vikes a 27-25 set win.
• The fourth set saw both squads battle and after a Bella Coccia (Westfield, Mass.) pulled Salem within two (9-7), Bridgewater gave themselves breathing room with a 9-1 surge for its first double digit lead of the set (18-8). From then on, the Bears closed out the fourth set on a 7-3 run for the 25-11 set victory. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Shairs led the Salem offense with 13 kills on the night. 
• Carbone guided the Vikings offense with 32 assists on the night. With her 32 assists, she became just the sixth Viking in program history to reach the 1,000 career assist mark.
• Defensively, Kailey Roche (Billerica, Mass.) led the squad with 17 digs.
• Ava Craine led the way for the Bears with a match-high 15 kills.
• Two different Bridgewater State student-athletes ended the contest with 20-plus assists, led by Xin Ai Robinson with 25, and Natalie Fredriksen had 22.

UP NEXT

• Salem has its road finale on Wednesday, November 5 when the squad heads to Eastern Connecticut State for a 6:00 p.m. match.