WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – In a perfectly scripted scenario, senior outside hitter Adrianna Mihalek (Woodbury) broke the 25-year-old program record for career kills on – you guessed it -- Seniors' Day, sparking the Eastern Connecticut State University  women's volleyball team to sweeps of the University of Southern Maine and Salem State University Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

With Mihalek attacking at .561, Eastern (16-9, 3-2 LEC) was never seriously threatened in its final Saturday showing of the regular season. In the process, the team's seven seniors – the largest class in the program's 42-year history – guaranteed themselves their first winning season in the final campaigns of their careers.

The Warriors broke a tie in the Little East Conference with Southern Maine (14-10, 2-3 LEC) by defeating the Huskies for the 16^th time in 18 meetings all-time, 25-18, 25-12, 25-19. In the first meeting with Salem in 23 years in a non-conference match, the Warriors improved to 20-2 all-time against the Vikings with 25-17, 25-7, 25-15 victories.

At left: Adrianna Mihalek

Eastern hiked its home record this year to 8-2 with two regular-season matches remaining at Geissler Gym. The Warriors have won seven of their last ten overall, improving to 11-2 in matches decided in three sets.

Needing eight to break Katie Nichols' long-standing record of 1,381 kills, Mihalek made quick work of it with a 12-kill performance against Southern Maine, and tacked on 11 more against Salem State. In the process, she also wiped out Karen Ann Sweet's 19-year record of 4,024 attack attempts. Needing 13 for that record, she totaled 41 on the afternoon. Mihalek brings career marks of 1,397 kills and 4,053 attempts into Tuesday's 7 p.m. Little East home match with Western Connecticut.

While Mihalek has always been known for offense in her career, she also moved to within two digs of reaching 1,000 in her career. Collecting 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs is an achievement attained by few in program history.

The Warriors attacked at .372 as a team Saturday, averaged 11.0 digs per set and served up 18 aces while posting a .905 reception percentage.

Senior co-captain Kay Mullen (Fairhaven, MA) and junior Megan Macomber (South Windsor) each added ten kills Saturday. Senior Fabiana Della-Monica (Newark, DE) and Mihalek combined for nine service aces and senior Nina Zimmitti (East Hampton) and junior Michelle Valliere (Lebanon) shared the team lead with 15 digs apiece. Mihalek also handled 25 receptions with only two errors and Valliere was 16 for 17 in that department. Della-Monica, sophomore Leah Sopneski (Deep River) and junior Amanda Tourjee (Waterford) combined for 49 of the team's 64 assists.

Transfer freshman setter Mckenzie Maneggia (Andover), a two-time All-Stater and daughter of former Eastern head volleyball coach Peter Maneggia, saw her first action in an Eastern uniform after recently joining the program. She contributed two assists, seeing action in one set.

Rounding out the senior class which was recognized prior to the Salem State match were Hannah Bryant (Avon), Ashley Adams (Mystic) and co-captain Amanda Tyler (Longmeadow, MA). Every senior except Bryant, who is injured, contributed to the sweeps.

Eastern Conn. 3, U. of Southern Maine 0

Southern Maine (14-10, 2-3 LEC)       18        12        19

Eastern Conn. (15-9, 3-2 LEC)           25        25        25

Eastern Conn.:
Adriana Mihalek          12 kills, 0 errors; 4 service aces, 8 digs
Ashley Adams             6 kills, one error

Fabiana Della-Monica  5 service aces, 10 assists

Leah Sopneski          13 assists

Nina Zimmitti              9 digs

Michelle Valliere         15 digs

Caryn Sibiskie             5 kills

Kay Mullen                  5 kills

Megan Macomber        4 blocks

Southern Maine:

Jess Williamson        12 kills, 13 digs

Alayna McNally          5 kills

Megan Nilson              12 assists, 10 digs

U. of Southern Maine 3, Salem State U. 0

Southern Maine (15-10)           26        25        25

Salem State (6-19)                   24        12        14

Southern Maine:

Jess Williamson            12 kills, 14 digs
Alayna McNally          10 kills
Faolain Harrington       7 kills, 3 service aces
Jenna Graves               3 service aces, 18 reception attempts/0 errors, 8 digs

Megan Nilson              16 assists
Nicole Schmitz            14 assists

Salem State:
Chloe Roy                   8 kills, 2 service aces
Haley Reed                  4 kills
Mackenzie Salls           10 assists
Morgan Adams              7 assists

Hannah Mullarkey       8 digs

Samantha Chaisson      6 digs

Eastern Conn. 3, Salem State U. 0

Salem State (6-20)                   17          7        15

Eastern Conn. (16-9)               25        25        25

Eastern Conn.:

Adrianna Mihalek        11 kills, 0 errors; 11 digs
Megan Macomber        7 kills, 1 error
Kay Mullen                  5 kills
Jackie Orlowski                       5 kills, 2 blocks

Amanda Tourjee          11 assists

Fabiana Della-Monica  9 assists

Amanda Tyler              7 digs

Nina Zimmitti              6 digs

Ashley Adams             2 blocks

Salem State:

Chloe Roy                   4 kills
Emily Hennessy           3 kills
Haley Reed                  3 kills

Mackenzie Salls           8 assists, 4 digs

Payton Pizzano              6 digs

Hannah Mullarkey       5 digs