WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University women's volleyball team clinched a first-round home match in the Little East Conference playoffs for the second time in three seasons with a 25-17, 25-14, 25-16 sweep of Plymouth State University Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

Eastern (14-13, 4-2 Little East) ended an overall three-match losing streak with only its second victory over Plymouth State (12-16, 2-3 Little East)  in the last seven meetings. It was the Warriors' second sweep of Plymouth in their last two meetings at Geissler Gym.

Eastern snapped the four-match winning streak of Plymouth, which rebounded to sweep WPI (10-18) in a non-conference match. The Warriors ended their home regular season with a 9-4 record after sweeping WPI in the final match. The match was the first between the programs since 1982 and improved the Warriors to 7-0 all-time against WPI. The Engineers, which feature 12 freshmen and sophomores on their 14-player roster, have lost ten of their last 11 since opening the season 9-8.

In the two wins, Eastern attacked at .284, collected 18 service aces and received at .922. Junior libero Allie Luppi (Tewksbury, MA) led the Warriors defensively with 19 digs and a .935 reception percentage on 31 attempts. She also served six aces. Freshman Hannah Koehler (Bedford, NH) attacked at .688 (12 kills, 1 error) and amassed six blocks and three service aces. Sophomore Adrianna Mihalek (Woodbury) attacked at .378 (20 kills, 3 errors) with three service aces and senior Allie Henry (Middletown) set 50 assists. Henry, honored before the WPI match on Senior's Day, moved into seventh place all-time in career assists (1,897).

Against Plymouth, the Warriors never trailed in the first set after the opening three points, moving out to a nearly 6-2 lead and held a lead of no less than three the rest of the way. Eastern ripped off five straight points to erase a 9-6 deficit in the second set and ended the second set with a run of seven straight points. The Warriors spotted Plymouth the first point of the third set before scoring five straight and never trailing thereafter.

After winning the opening set by eight points against WPI, Plymouth and the Engineers battled the rest of the way, with Plymouth taking the second and third sets by a combined total of six points. There were six ties and two lead changes in the second set. WPI battled back from an early deficit to take its first lead, 15-14, , but Plymouth broke the final tie (17-17) with three straight points and never trailed. WPI led as late as 15-14 in the third set but Plymouth took the lead for good at 18-17 and held on.

The Warriors eased to the first two sets triumphs over WPI but the Engineers cut an eight-point deficit to three (19-15) before Eastern's run of four straight points opened up a seven-point lead.

Eastern closes out conference regular-season play Tuesday at Massachusetts Dartmouth at 7 p.m. and hosts an undetermined opponent Nov. 4 in the opening round of the LEC playoffs.

Eastern Conn. 3, Plymouth State U. 0

Plymouth State U. (11-16, 2-3 Little East) 17      14      16

Eastern Conn. (13-13, 4-2 Little East)       25      25      25

Eastern Conn.:

Adrianna Mihalek          15 kills, .375 attack pct., .933 rec. pct.

Kay Mullen                    9 kills

Hannah Koehler            8 kills, .727 attack pct.

Allie Luppi                    5 service aces, 14 digs, .944 rec. pct.

Allie Henry                    37 assists

Plymouth State:

Kayla Wyland                6 kills, 278 attack pct.

Kirsten Perrotta             15 assists

Brenna Peruch                9 digs

Plymouth State U. 3, WPI 0

Plymouth State (12-16)                    25      25      25

WPI (10-17)                                     16      23      21

Plymouth State:

Brianna Wojtas              9 kills, .533 attack pct., 2 aces, 2 blocks

Jana Nieman                  6 kills, .267 attack pct.

Brenna Peruch               2 aces, 11 digs

Kirsten Perrotta             17 assists

Megan Bailey                 8 assists

WPI:

Melissa Daigle               11 kills , .240 attack pct., .950 rec. pct. (40 att.), 10 digs

Sam Bircsak                  7 kills, .353 attack pct., 2 blocks

Caroline Meyer              20 assists

Emma Sheils                  11 assists

Kelly Rathje                    14 digs

Cassandra Tomerlin         8 digs

Eastern Conn. 3, WPI 0

WPI (10-18)                                      11      15      21

Eastern Conn. (14-13)                      25      25      25

Eastern Conn.:

Ashley Adams               6 kills, .625 attack pct.

Adrianna Mihalek          5 kills, .385 attack pct., 2 aces

Allie Henry                    13 assists, 5 digs

Allie Luppi                    .923 rec. pct., 5 digs

Amanda Tyler                2 aces

Hannah Koehler             3 aces, 3 blocks

WPI:

Katie Hurlock                6 kills

Caroline Meyer              8 assists

Emma Sheils                  7 assists

Kelly Rathje                            8 digs

Melissa Daigle               .900 rec. pct.

Adrienne Weishaar        2 blocks

Sam Bircsak                            2 blocks