WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The fifth-seeded Rhode Island College women's volleyball team succeeded in closing out the all-important second set on its seventh attempt and went on to eliminate fourth-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University, 25-22, 32-30, 25-21 to advance through the opening round of the 2012 Little East Conference playoffs Wednesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

Eastern (19-13), which had a season-high seven-match winning streak ended in its final match of the year, survived set point six times in the second set before  dropping the set on an attacked ball which carried long.

Rhode Island (14-15) looks to gain the .500 mark for the first time this year (after a 1-8 start) when it faces top-seeded host and three-time defending champion Massachusetts Boston (15-11) in the first of two semifinal matches Saturday at noon. Third-seeded Keene State College (17-15) meets second-seeded Western Connecticut State University (18-12) in Saturday's second semifinal.  Keene swept sixth-seeded Plymouth State University in Wednesday's other first-round contest.

The tournament final is set for Sunday at noon at UMass Boston.

Rhode Island overcame two regular-season four-set losses to Eastern this season to defeat the Warriors for the second time in eight LEC tournament contests between the clubs.

Breanna Boyer had nine kills and a .368 attack percentage in the crucial second-set victory for Rhode Island and Amanda Cabral added five to account for nearly half of the Anchorwomen's points in the set.

In the second set, Eastern took its first lead at 10-9 and had an opportunity to end the match after Samantha Browning's kill put them within a point, 24-23. Rhode Island tied it and went ahead on consecutive Eastern attack errors,  but the Warriors managed to survive six straight set points. The visitors  went up 31-30 on Michelle Malboeuf's kill and closed it out on Eastern's attack error.

Rhode Island trailed throughout the first set – and by four points, 20-16 – before scoring four straight to finally pull even. After trailing 20-16, RIC outscored Eastern 9-2 the rest of the way. Cabral and Malboeuf each had four kills in the set for the winners, and Morgan Stewart, Jessica Ho and Jasmyn Starr combined for 20 digs.

The Anchorwomen, who used only seven players on the evening, raced to a 12-3 start and survived a late Eastern rally to close out the third set.  Starr and Cabral combined for 13 digs in the deciding contest, and Eastern hurt its cause with 11 attack errors.

Boyer led RIC in the match with 16 kills, Cabral adding 11 and Lauren Palazzini seven. Ho had 33 assists and 12 digs, Starr 18 digs, Stewart 15, and Cabral 13. Palazzini also had three service aces. The Anchorwomen were charged with only one reception error.

Junior Nicki Gasch (New Fairfield) led Eastern with 12 kills, freshman Bryanna Kelly (Dunbarton, NH) adding nine kills without an error on 12 attempts, and freshman Brooke Curran  (Chelmsford, MA) eight. Junior Erynn Miller (Stratford) handled 24 serves with only two errors and freshman Allie Luppi  (Tewksbury, MA) 17 with just one miscue and Miller topped all players in the match with 21 digs, senior Danielle Bourne (Branford) collecting 18 and sophomore Jess Patrizi (Beacon Falls) nine digs and eight assists.  Senior Shannon Burke (Manchester) had five blocks, sophomore Allie Henry (Middletown) 20 assists.