FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – A year ago, the Eastern Connecticut State University women's volleyball team rode late momentum to a first-round victory in the Little East Conference Tournament.

The Warriors will be looking for more of the same in 2012, after sweeping Suffolk University and outlasting host Framingham State University Saturday to end the regular season on a season-high seven-match winning streak.

A winner of 11 of its final 12 and 14 of its last 17, fourth-seeded Eastern (19-12)  will host fifth-seeded Rhode Island College (13-15) Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium in a first-round LEC match which will be streamed live on Littleeast.tv.

A first-round LEC tournament winner in 14 of the 16 years in which it has competed in the tournament, Eastern will visit top-seeded and host Massachusetts Boston (15-11) if it can survive against Rhode Island in a tournament semifinal Saturday at noon.

Saturday, Eastern won twice at Framingham's Athletic & Recreation Center, sweeping Suffolk (11-18), 25-8, 25-13 and 25-10, and emerging with a hotly-contested  21-25, 25-19, 25-16, 23-25, 15-9 triumph over Framingham (22-9), this year's Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) regular-season champion. The latter triumph was the Warriors' second five-set triumph this year – first in six weeks – against three five-set losses.

The match was the first ever against Suffolk and was the Warriors' fifth victory without a loss against Framingham in this series.

Against Suffolk, senior Danielle Bourne (Branford) led the Warriors with nine kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Sophomore Allie Henry (Middletown) contributed 19 assists, while junior Erynn Miller (Stratford) added ten digs.  Senior Katie Wilson (Pittsburg, CA) and freshman Allie Luppi (Tewksbury, MA) had six and five aces, respectively.

Against Framingham in the final regular-season matches of their careers, Wilson had 25 kills and a .340 attack percentage, and Bourne chipped in 12 kills. Wilson is ranked fifth nationally in Division III in points per set and among the Top 20 in kills per set. Henry dished out 23 assists against the Rams and Miller once again led the Warriors back row with 23 digs.

A victory Wednesday over Rhode Island would give Eastern its second straight 20-win season in as many years under head coach Peter Maneggia. In its last first-round home LEC tourney match, Eastern swept Massachusetts Dartmouth before being swept by UMass Boston in the semifinals at Keene State College. Eastern has won three of the last seven conference tournament titles, with UMass Boston having claimed the last three.

In two four-set victories over Rhode Island this year (the first coming in a non-conference match in the season-opener), Wilson has 50 kills, a .412 attack percentage, five service aces, 14 digs and five blocks, junior Nicki Gasch (New Fairfield) 21 kills and a .271 attack percentage, Henry 56 and first-year sophomore Jess Patrizi (Beacon Falls) 23 assists each, Miller 30 digs and Luppi 20 and freshman Bryanna Kelly (Dunbarton, NH) five blocks.