WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Keene State College volleyball team broke a 21-all tie with three straight points in the second set and went on to sweep Eastern Connecticut State University, 25-20, 25-22, 25-16, in a Little East Conference match Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

At left: Adrianna Mihalek registered her 1,000th career kill in the first set here Saturday against Keene State College. (Photo courtesy of Frank Poulin)

With its eighth win in its last nine matches this year and ninth in the last ten contests against Eastern (11-14, 2-3 LEC), Keene (19-8, 5-1 LEC) moves a half-game ahead of the University of Massachusetts Boston at the top of the conference standings. Eastern shares fourth place in the standings with Rhode Island College and Plymouth State University. The Warriors host Rhode Island Tuesday night at 7 p.m. and visit Plymouth State Saturday at noon in wrapping up the LEC regular season.

The top two finishers in the conference standings gain a first-round tournament bye, with the No. 3 seed hosting No. 6 and No. 4 hosting No. 5 in the first-round matches Nov. 3.

Eastern, swept earlier this year by Keene in a non-conference match at the Springfield Invitational, held a slim early lead in the first set before Keene called timeout and later gained momentum to score four of five points and move out to a five-point, 23-18 lead. The Warriors took a 15-12 lead in the second set but Keene answered with a run that lift it into an 18-17 lead. Eastern never led thereafter, but managed to tie the set at 21-all. Keene then scored three straight at that point to take command. The Warriors scored the first point of the third set but never led again. Leading by four, Keene ran off four of the next five points to expand the lead to seven, 22-15.

Senior Madeleiine Nossiff dominated play for Keene, collecting 12 kills with a .360 attack percentage. First-team All-LEC senior hitter Angela Silveri followed with nine kills and a .259 percentage. Senior setter Alexis Michael set for 26 assists, freshman libero Riley Bunker and Michal each had 11 digs and Silveri nine. Senior Christine Hadfield had three blocks and Michal three aces.

Junior Adrianna Mihalek (Woodbury) led Eastern with nine kills with a .231 attack percentage, junior Kay Mullen (Fairhaven, MA) adding eight kills. Junior Fabiana Della Monica (Newark, DE) and sophomore Amanda Tourjee (Waterford) combined for 24 assists.  Senior libero Allie Luppi (Tewksbury, MA) led both teams with 14 digs, Mihalek and sophomore Michelle Valliere (Lebanon) contributing eight each and Tourjee seven. Freshman Sage Tourigny (Fitzwilliam, NH) had four blocks and attacked at .273 with four kills.  

With her second kill of the match, Mihalek became the ninth player in the program's 41-year history to reach 1,000 kills in a career. Her nine kills in the match move her into a tie for eighth place all-time with Kate Wilson (2010-12).