WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Tournament Outstanding Player Deirdre Wilson had 32 kills with a .482 attack percentage and 38 assists and seven blocks to help carry Wheaton College (MA) to its first championship of the 34^th Annual Crabtree Classic Women's Volleyball Tournament Saturday at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

Wheaton (12-8) won nine of ten sets in defeating host Eastern Connecticut State University (10-9) in its opener in three sets, 2013 classic champion Framingham State University (13-7) in four and closing it out with a sweep of the University of New England (5-11).

Above: The Warriors close in on their four-set triumph over Framingham State Saturday at the 34th Annual Crabtree Classic. Pictured (from left) are Adrianna Mihalek (2), Allie Luppi (6), Hannah Bryant (7), Caryn Sibiskie (15) and Allie Henry (back to camera). (Photo by Katie Dulz)

In a tightly-contested tournament, the losing team reached at least 20 points in 15 of 21 sets, with seven sets decided by two points each.

Deirdre Wilson, a 5-foot-11 inch outside hitter and setter, had 14 kills and a .500 attack percentage with 12 assists against Eastern, and followed that up with 14 more kills and a .435 attack percentage and 26 assists against Framingham State.

With Wheaton needing a victory in its final match against stubborn New England, all-tournament selection Sarah Alexander, a 5-foot-11 inch middle hitter, contributed a team-high eight kills and a .313 attack percentage, sophomore setter Caitlin Hellebrand collected 15 assists, sophomore libero Olivia Wilson 13 digs and junior defensive specialist Robyn D'Agostino seven, and freshman defensive specialist Jodi Katz four service aces.

In that final match against UNE which was decided by 14 total points, the Lyons led early (8-1) in the first set before New England battled back to tie the set at 10-all. The Lyons never trailed in the set but were never able to open up a lead of more than three points after breaking the 10-all tie.

In the second set, 6-foot-1 inch junior outside Arieanne Creighton  came off the bench for three kills, and Wheaton ran off eight straight points and ten of 11 to move out to an 11-point, 18-7 lead. Katz had all four of her aces in that set.

Wheaton closed out the match with a four-point victory in the final set. The Nor'easters led by as many as seven points after ripping off nine straight – two coming on consecutive service aces from sophomore outside Erika Sawicki – but Wheaton rallied to surge ahead, 18-17 on two service aces from Olivia Wilson and kills from junior right-side Casey Hess and a kill from sophomore outside Colleen Koen.

Eastern displayed resiliency after being swept by Wheaton, sweeping New England (25-18, 25-22, 28-26) in three competitive sets and downing Framingham in four (25-23, 25-20, 23-25, 25-11) after losing to the Rams in last year's final. Against UNE, which gave Wheaton all it could handle following the loss to Eastern.

At left: Adrianna Mihalek (2) hits over the block of six-foot Alycia Rackliffe of Framingham State during Eastern's four-set victory Saturday. (Photo by Katie Dulz)

In defeating UNE for the eighth time in his ten-match series, Eastern recorded his fourth-highest attack percentage (.215) in a match this year, was guilty of only four reception errors and combined for 14 blocks. Sophomore Adrianna Mihalek (Woodbury) led the way with season-highs of 21 kills and a .459 attack percentage and added 11 digs. Senior Allie Henry (Middletown) – who represented Eastern on the all-tournament team – had 21 assists, freshman Hannah Koehler (Bedford, NH) five blocks and junior Allie Luppi (Tewksbury, MA) a team-high 12 digs and three service aces. Sophomore Nina Zimmitti (East Hampton) handled 20 receptions without an error.

Leading by three points in the first set against UNE, Eastern ran off four of the next five points on the way to the seven-point victory. The Warriors excelled in taking the final two sets by a total of five points. Eastern never trailed in the second set,  but could never shake completely free. Three straight points late in the set snapped a 20-20 tie.

The Warriors jumped to an early four-point lead in the third set but UNE bounced back, holding one-point leads late. Eastern survived set point, tying the match at 25-all and assuming a one-point lead before coming up with the final two points to complete the sweep.

The first three sets against Framingham were decided by nine total points, but Eastern made quick work of the Rams in the final set to avenge its only loss to Framingham in this series in last year's final. Five straight early points in the fourth set gave Eastern the momentum and a 10-4 lead. The Warriors were never headed after that.  Koehler and Mihalek both contributed three kills in that final set. In the match against Framingham, Mihalek again led all players on both teams with 16 kills, sophomore Kay Mullen (Fairhaven, MA)  adding nine kills and a .467 attack percentage. Luppi received 26 serves with just one error and also led all players with 20 digs, and matched Mihalek with three service aces. Henry set 24 assists.

Mihalek had twice as many kills as her nearest teammate in the tournament, totaling 46 with a .307 attack percentage. She also had six service aces, and averaged 2.70 digs in ten sets. Henry had 55 assists and a .977 service percentage on a team-high 44 attempts; Mullen  had 21 kills and Ashley Adams (Mystic) followed Mihalek with 21 and 16 tournamaent kills, respectively. Mullen added eight blocks for a team which collected 12 block solos and 24 assists. Koehler led everyone with ten blocks. Luppi  (41) and Mihalek (27) topped Eastern players in digs and sparked the team to a .929 reception percentage. Luppi had a .946 percentage on a team-high 56 receptions. Zimmitti was perfect on 24 atttempts.

Eastern hosts Western Connecticut State University Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a Little East Conference match.

34^th Annual Crabtree Classic

Women's Volleyball Tournament

Hosted by Eastern Connecticut State University

Wheaton College (MA) 3, Eastern Conn. 0

Wheaton College            25      25      25

Eastern Conn.                23      20      17

U. of New England 3, Framingham State U. 1

New England                 25      25      20      25

Framingham State         20      19      25      20

Eastern Conn. 3, U. of New England 0

Eastern Conn.                25      25      28

New England                 18      22      26

Wheaton College (MA) 3, Framingham State U. 1

Wheaton College            25      25      25      25

Framingham State           19      27      21      23

Eastern Conn. 3, Framingham State U. 1

Eastern Conn.                25      25      23      25

Framingham State         23      20      25      11

Wheaton College (MA) 3, U. of New England 0

Wheaton College            25      25      25

New England                 23      17      21

RECORDS

                                      Trmt           Overall

Wheaton College            3-0              12-8

Eastern Conn.                2-1              10-9

U. of New England          1-2              5-11

Framingham State         0-3               13-7

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

DEIRDRE WILSON*          Jr.      Wheaton College            Aptos, CA

Sarah Alexander              Jr.      Wheaton College            Wayne, PA

Allie Henry                    Sr.     Eastern Conn.                Middletown, CT

Leah Janelle                    Sr.     U. of New England        Madbury, NH

Julia Wan                       So.    Framingham State U.     South Deerfield, MA

*-Most Outstanding Player