SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Senior middle hitter Katie Wilson (Pittsburg, CA) recorded a career-high 21 kills and attacked at .381 to help lift the Eastern Connecticut State University women's volleyball team to a 3-1 win over Rhode Island College Friday night in the season-opener for both teams at the Springfield College Invitational. Game scorers were 25-16, 25-15, 22-25, 25-17.

As a team, Eastern attacked at .250 on the evening, moving out to a 2-0 lead by attacking at .520 in the second set. After dropping the third set, Eastern broke from a  14-14 tie in the fourth set by outscoring the Anchorwomen  11-3 the rest of the way. Sophomore Allie Henry (Middletown) tied the set at 14-all with a kill, freshman Bryanna Kelly (Dunbarton, NH) gave the Warriors the lead for good with a service ace, and Wilson and senior Danielle Bourne (Branford) followed with kills to push the lead to 17-14.

Wilson contributed seven kills in the second set win and nine in the third-set loss. The 6-foot-2 inch Wilson also had four service aces and three blocks and Henry collected 33 set assists.

Junior libero Erynn Miller (Stratford) handled 22 serve receptions with only one error and she also led all Eastern players with 15 digs.  Freshman Allie Luppi (Tewksbury, MA) followed Miller with 12 digs in her collegiate debut.  Junior Nicki Gasch (New Fairfield) added eight kills and a .278 attack percentage and Bourne six kills.

As a team, Eastern registered 14 service aces and commited only five reception errors.

On Saturday, Eastern faces Westfield State University at 10 a.m. and Springfield College at 3 p.m.