Bates volleyball split two matches at the University of Southern Maine on Sept. 27, 2014, defeating host USM and falling to Western Connecticut State. (File photo by Sarah Crosby/Bates College)

GORHAM, Maine -- Juniors Mary Deneen and Abby Leberman led the Bates volleyball team to a 3-1 (26-24, 25-14, 21-25, 25-23) victory at the University of Southern Maine on Saturday, right after falling 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 27-25) to Western Connecticut State.

Deneen (Windsor, Conn.) and Leberman (Concord, N.H.) paced the Bobcats attack in both matches on Saturday. Against Western Conn, both players shared the team lead in kills with eight apiece, with Deneen hitting at a .316 clip and Leberman checking in at .286. Junior Nicole Cueli (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) tied for the match high with 14 digs while senior Tess Walther (Santa Monica, Calif.) and sohpomore Hannah Tardie (Orange, Calif.) had 16 and 10 assists apiece. Sophomore Chandler McGrath (Seal Beach, Calif.) added seven kills and sophomore Nicole Peraica (East Northport, N.Y.) had a match-high three blocks.

Western Conn received 14 kills from Jaqueline Kanuk and 11 more from Brittany Steele in raising its overall record to 15-3 on the season.

After eking out a 26-24 win in the first set against the host Huskies (10-6), Bates took control of the match with a strong second set, attacking at a .407 percentage as a team. USM stayed in the match behind 19 kills on 56 attempts (.214) by Jessica Williamson, but it wasn't enough to offset two of the best performances ever by both Deneen and Leberman. Deneen racked up a career-high 14 kills against six errors for a solid .286 attack percentage, while Leberman tallied a career-high-tying 11 kills against two errors for a .321 percentage. Cueli again led the team in digs (10), and Peraica again led the match in blocks (4). First-year Jacqueline Forney (Bloomington, Ind.) handed out 22 assists, to go with 14 from Walther.

Bates (7-6) will host Husson on Tuesday at 7pm for its next match.