WILLIMANTIC, Conn. --  Junior Hannah Bryant (Avon) came off the bench for 15 kills and a .481 attack percentage to spark the Eastern Connecticut State University women's volleyball team to a four-set Little East Conference victory over Rhode Island College Tuesday night that moved the Warriors to within a win of hosting a first-round conference tournament home match. Set scores were 19-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-18.

Eastern (12-14, 3-3 LEC) ended a three-match losing streak with its second victory this year over Rhode Island (16-11, 2-4 LEC), the first a five-set non-conference decision ten days ago at the Wheaton (MA) College Invitational.

Eastern, Rhode Island and Plymouth State entered the night sharing fourth place in the conference. Plymouth and Eastern remain deadlocked after the Panthers erased a two-set deficit to upend host the University of Southern Maine Tuesday night. The Warriors and Plymouth State meet Saturday at noon at Plymouth, NH in the LEC regular-season finale.  The winner is assured of hosting a first-round tournament match Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Both Eastern and RIC teams are already assured spots in the six-team tournament. The top two seeds gain byes while No. 3 hosts No. 6 and No. 4 hosts No. 5 a week from tonight.

Averaging 1.92 kills per set and attacking at .142 entering the match, Bryan rallied the Warriors. After sitting out Eastern's first-set loss, the 5-foot-11 inch Bryant was 4-for-5 in kills in the second set, 5-for-13 in the third set, and in the final set was 6-for-9 without an error.

Others providing Eastern with a spark off the bench were sophomore defensive specialist Michelle Valliere (Lebanon) and freshman setter Leah Sopneski (Deep River). Valliere was perfect on 18 serves and led  both teams with three aces.  She also handled 15 of 16 reception attempts and dug up six balls. Sopneski chipped in 18 assists and served 11 balls without an error.

Junior Adrianna Mihalek (Woodbury) led Eastern with 17 kills and had a .342 attack percentage.  She also had two aces, handled 16 of 17 reception attempts (the team commited only four reception errors) and led players on both teams with 15 digs. Junior Kay Mullen (Fairhaven, MA) chipped in nine kills and junior Ashley Adams (Mystic) added six.

Senior libero Allie Luppi (Tewksbury, MA) was perfect on 20 reception attempts and was second to Mihalek with 11 digs. Sophomore setter Amanda Tourjee (Waterford) started the match and led Eastern with 24 assists.

Six-foot RIC senior Kelsey Lace, second in the LEC in kills, led players on both teams with 19 kills, senior Michelle Malboeuf adding 11. Lace, a first-year Division II transfer, also served 16 balls without an error, was successful on 19 of 21 reception attempts, dug up ten balls and had two blocks.  Malboeuf was 27-for-28 on reception attempts with 12 digs, and junior libero Megan Armburg had a team-high 14 digs and sophomore setter Abigayl White collected 51 assists.

Rhode Island, which has lost four straight, got out early in the first set and led by as many as six points before the Warriors scored five in a row to take its only lead, 16-15 on an RIC attack error.With the score tied at 17-all, the Anchorwomen outscored Eastern 8-2 the rest of the way, with Malboeuf accounting for the first two points in the run with a kill and block solo.

Mihalek and Bryant each had four kills as the Warriors took the second set to even the match. In the all-important third set, RIC wiped out Eastern's quick 5-0 lead ,finally moving ahead, 8-7, on Lace's service ace. The Warriors seized the momentum for good with four straight points that forced the Anchorwomen to call for a timeout, trailing 14-10. A kill by Mihalek and three RIC attack errors put the visitors in a hole from which they never recovered.

The Warriors never trailed in the fourth set. Holding to a 15-12 advantage, Eastern ran off four in a row to move ahead, 19-12, and were never headed. Following an RIC service error, Valliere served consecutive aces, and Mihalek put away a smash to push Eastern into that four-point advantage.

Eastern Conn. 3, Rhode Island College 1

Rhode Island (16-11, 2-4 LEC)               25    21   19    18

Eastern Conn. (12-14, 3-3 LEC)             19    25   25     25