WALTHAM, Mass. – Despite a near triple-double by junior Ingrid Murphy (Cotuit, Mass./ Barnstable HS) and a career-high in kills from Northeast-10 Rookie of the Week Ellie Wheeler (Olathe, Kans./Saint James Academy), Bentley University dropped a five-set decision to the University of Bridgeport Wednesday night in non-conference women's volleyball at Harvey Hubbell Gymnasium. The scores were 25-17, 26-24, 25-27, 25-27 and 15-9

Murphy's night included career highs of 17 kills and nine aces, as well as 24 digs. heeler, a sophomore and the NE10 kill leader, totaled 21 kills, a new career-best.

Bridgeport, unranked in this week's NCAA Division II East Region rankings, improved to 15-8 while Bentley dropped to 13-9. The Falcons were seventh in the region rankings.

The Falcons struggled at the start with the Purple Knights picking up the first four points and opening a 9-3 lead. After Bentley closed to within two, Bridgeport regained control by scoring seven of the next eight points.

Bentley led the second 23-20 but Bridgeport battled back, a 6-1 run giving the home team a 2-0 lead.

In the third, the Falcons were looking at a 25-24 deficit before scoring the final three points, Murphy and junior Katie Rounds (McFarland, Wis./McFarland HS) had kills and a ball handling error by the Knights accounted for set point.

Bentley led the fourth, 22-16, but once again Bridgeport battled back to extend the set beyond 25. With the score even at 25, a UB attack error put the Falcons in front and a shared block from Rounds and sophomore Caitlin Wunder (Penn Yan, N.Y./Penn Yan Academy) evened the match.

Bentley had a 4-0 run midway through the fifth but that wasn't enough to counteract a 7-2 Bridgeport start and an 8-3 finish.

In addition to Murphy, Bentley received 49 assists, 13 digs and three aces from senior setter Amanda Parker (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North HS) and eight kills and three blocks from senior Shannon Ngo (San Rafael, Calif./Terra Linda HS).

Freshman Paola Hernandez led Bridgeport with 19 kills.

Bentley returns home for two key Northeast-10 matches this weekend, Stonehill on Friday evening and American International on a Saturday afternoon Senior Day game.