WALTHAM, Mass. – Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Van Buren (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa HS) had a season-high 12 kills, all in the final two sets, as Bentley University opened its home and conference schedule with a 3-1 win over Saint Anselm College in Northeast-10 Conference women's volleyball Tuesday night at the Dana Center. Scores were 25-19, 25-23, 25-27 and 25-17.

The win was the fifth straight for the Falcons, who moved over .500 to 5-4. Saint Anselm dropped to 5-3 overall and 0-1 in the NE-10.

Van Buren, who had six kills in the third set and the same number in the fourth after not playing in the first two, was one of five Falcons to record at least seven kills in the match. She hit .364 overall, including .556 in the clinching fourth.

In that fourth set, after acting head coach Joey Pacis took a timeout with his team down 13-11, the Falcons ran off eight unanswered points to take control. That surge started with two kills by Van Buren and included five attack errors by the Hawks.

Junior outside hitter Jaci Buscher (Lakewood, Colo./Green Mountain HS) and senior outside hitter Tatiana Froehlich (Newton/Newton North HS) each had nine kills, with Buscher playing only the first two sets and Froehlich appearing in three.

Senior middle blocker Simone Silvera (Bolingbook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS) had a strong showing, with seven blocks (tying her career-best, seven kills and a .700 hitting percentage.  Matching the seven kills was senior outside hitter Kaleigh Sullivan (Naples, Fla./Harley School).

Senior setter Alex Tator (Los Angeles, Calif./Marlborough School) totaled 41 assists, including at least nine in every set, and also provided six digs, three blocks and two kills. Classmate Lauren Colasanti (Northville, Mich./Northville HS) added 23 digs to her career total, moving to third on the Falcons' all-time list with 1,382.

Saint Anselm was led by a pair of freshmen as Kathryn Teets (Dix Hills, N.Y.) and Amanda Williams (North Andover) had 12 and 11 kills, respectively.

Bentley will be back on the Dana Center court Saturday for matches against Montevallo (Ala.) (12 noon) and Georgian Court (5 pm).