NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University women's volleyball team salvaged its first win of the season Saturday afternoon at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Bear Invitational at Roland Field House.

Eastern (1-3) maintained its mastery of Newbury (1-3) with a straight set, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22 victory that produced the team's first win of the year after two opening-season losses. The Warriors closed out the tournament later Saturday witih a 25-18, 25-16, 26-24 loss to host Coast Guard (4-0), which returned its starting lineup from a year ago.

Eastern finished 1-2 in the tournament, losing in four sets to Simmons College Friday night. Coast Guard won all three of its matches, Simmons finishing 2-1, Eastern 1-2 and Newbury 0-3.

Against Newbury, Eastern commited only four reception errors and first-team All-Little East Conference outside hitter Adrianna Mihalek (Woodbury) enjoyed her most productive match of the season with ten kills and a .350 attack percentage. She also received 12 serves without an error.

Junior right side Kay Mullen (Fairhaven, MA) chipped in six kills and freshman setter Leah Sopneski (Deep River) had 14 assists and four service aces. Senior libero Allie Luppi (Tewksbury, MA) led all players in the match with 15 digs and matched first-year junior Fabiana Della-Monica (Newark, DE) with three aces. Della-Monica was the JUCO national leader in aces in 2013.

Sophomore setter Amanda Tourjee (Waterford) followed Sopneski with eight assists.

Eastern closed out the win against Newbury with a three-point win in the third set. The Warriors trailed most of that set before taking their first lead at 15-14 on a Newbury attack error. With the score tied at 21-all, the Warriors took the lead for good on two Newbury attack errors and a kill from junior back row player Nina Zimmitti (East Hampton). Junior outside Hannah Bryant (Avon) and Mullen combined for seven of the team's 12 kills in the third set against Newbury and junior outside Amanda Tyler (Longmeadow, MA) topped the team with five digs in that final set.

Despite forcing overtime in the third set, the Warriors lost to Coast Guard for the tenth time in the last 12 meetings between the programs. Eastern trailed, 21-15 in the third set before outscoring the Bears, 9-2, to move to within a point of set point. An Eastern service error tied the set and gave the ball back to Coast Guard, which used a kill and an Eastern attack error to wrap up the win.

Bryant sparked the late 9-2 run in the third set with a kill and two service aces, the second ace giving the Warriors a 24-23 lead. Freshman middle Jackie Orlowski (Woodstock) also contributed a kill and Della-Monica a service ace in the run, and junior outside Ashley Adams (Mystic) tied the match at 23-all with a kill off a set from Della-Monica.

Against Coast Guard, Bryant led the Warriors with eight kills, Orlowski and Mihalek adding seven kills each and Orlowski attacking at .316 Luppi led players on both teams with 16 digs, Zimmitti adding ten.

Both teams were sharp offensively in the first set, Coast Guard attacking at .448 and Eastern .310. The Warriors dropped to .037 over the final two sets, however.

Mihalek was Eastern's representative on the all-tournament team, with USCGA senior setter Maggie Hine netting MVP honors. In nine sets, Mihalek averaged 3.11 kills and was second on the team by averaging 3.33 digs. She also contributed three service aces. Luppi compiled 12 service aces and a team-leading 5.10 digs in ten sets. Bryant followed Mihalek with 18 kills, Mullen adding 15. Sopneski led all Eastern players with 34 assists and Della-Monica followed Luppi with five aces and chipped in 21 assists, Tourjee 27 assists. Zimmitti added 24 digs and Macomber was Eastern's leader with six blocks.

Eastern competes in the Trinity College Invitational next weekend, facing the host Bantams Friday at 7 p.m. and Westfield State University (noon) and Clark University (2 p.m.) Saturday.