OAKDALE, N.Y. – Freshman outside hitter Kelsey Buckner (San Marino, Calif./San Marino HS) had nine kills, and both Ashley Ahearn (Marshfield, Mass./Marshfield HS) and freshman Savannah Dominguez (Miami, Fla./Palmer-Trinity HS) recorded eight, as the Bentley University women's volleyball team completed play in the season-opening Dowling Invitational with a three-set victory over the University of Charleston (W.V.) Saturday afternoon at the Dowling Gymnasium.

The 26-24, 25-18, 25-22 victory was the first of the season for Bentley after two opening losses, including a 3-0 decision to Lock Haven University earlier on Saturday.

In the tightly-contested opening set (14 ties, seven lead changes), an attack error broke a 24-all tie and Ahearn secured the Bentley win with her fifth kill of the opening set.

Bentley ran off six straight points in the second set to open an 11-7 lead and went on to prevail 25-18. Dominguez had two kills during that run. The third set was tied at 22-all before Falcon freshman Tatiana Froehlich (Newton, Mass./Newton HS) recorded a kill to give the Falcons the lead. An attack error made it 24-22, and a Dominguez block ended the match.

Freshman Alex Tator (Los Angeles, Calif./Marlborough School) had 28 assists for the Falcons, and another first-year player, Lauren Colasanti (Northville, Mich./Northville HS) registered 16 digs.

Lock Haven took each of the sets in convincing fashion (25-13, 25-15, 25-12), with junior Gao Xuan (Dong Ying, China) hitting a lofty .733. She had 11 kills, second to teammate Bailey Farthing's (Dublin, Ohio) dozen, and no errors in 15 attempts.

Buckner recorded half of Bentley's 20 kills in the match, hitting at a .350 clip.

Bentley opens its home and Northeast-10 schedule Wednesday night against UMass-Lowell.

Lock Haven def. Bentley 25-13,25-15,25-12

Bentley (0-2) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Kelsey Buckner 10-1-1; Tatiana Froehlich 4-0-0; Grace Conner 3-0-2; Emily Garcia 2-0-1; Savannah Dominguez 1-1-1; Jennifer Segar 0-1-0; Totals 20-3-3.0. (Assists) -Alex Tator 19. (Dig leaders) - Lauren Colasanti 10; Virginia Wong 5

Lock Haven (2-0) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Bailey Farthing 12-2-3; Gao Xuan 11-3-1; Hayley Gribler 7-1-2; Grace Novacek 5-0-3; Alex Brehony 2-0-3; Monica Brown 1-2-0; Alexa Garrity 1-1-1; Erin Walsh 0-1-0; Totals 39-10-7.0. (Assists) - Alexa Garrity 33. (Dig leaders) – Erin Walsh 8; Hayley Gribler 8

Site: Oakdale, NY (Dowling Gymnasium)

Date: 09/03/11       Attend: 37   Time: 1:04   

Referees: Hana Milord, Rafael Henriquez

Bentley def. Charleston (W.V.) 26-24,25-18,25-22

Charleston (W.V.) (0-3) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Malleri Hardison 9-0-0; Brenna Youlton 6-0-0; Lora Goss 4-0-1; Vivien Souders 4-3-0; Keely Latham 3-0-0; Cara Hibbs-Leyva 2-0-0; Kelsey Eby 1-3-0; Brittany Bills 1-0-0; Kaitlyn Farley 0-0-1; Katie Williams 0-2-0; Totals 30-8-1.0. (Assists) - Katie Williams 15; Kelsey Eby 11. (Dig leaders) – Brittany Bills 7; Ashley Douglas  

Bentley (1-2) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Kelsey Buckner 9-0-0; Savannah Dominguez 8-2-2; Ashley Ahearn 8-0-0; Tatiana Froehlich 4-0-1; Virginia Wong 3-1-0; Grace Conner 3-0-1; Alex Tator 1-2-1; Jennifer Segar 1-0-0; Lauren Colasanti 0-1-0; Totals 37-6-4.0. (Assists) – Alex Tator 28. (Dig leaders) - Lauren Colasanti 16; Kelsey Buckner 8

Site: Oakdale, N.Y. (Dowling Gymnasium)

Date: 09/03/11       Attend: 42   Time: 1:20   

Referees: Hana Milord, Rafael Henriquez