WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Dani Tabor, Claire Sporer, and Kayla Wyland combined for 35 kills as Plymouth State University handed the Eastern Connecticut State University women's volleyball team its first home loss of the year in a four-set victory in the Little East Conference opener for both teams Saturday at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

A winner of five of its last seven following an 0-3 start against top competition, Plymouth (6-5) won by scores of 25-13, 19-25, 25-11, 25-12, taking the final two sets after Eastern (9-3) had evened the match at 1-apiece with the six-point second-set victory.

Plymouth and Eastern each went on to sweep Nichols College (2-5), a first-year program, to round out the day. The Panthers posted 25-7, 25-15, 25-10 victories over the Bison and Eastern concluded the afternoon with 25-11, 25-12, 25-17 triumphs over Nichols.

In the decisive fourth set against Eastern, Plymouth's Tabor had six of her match total of 11 kills, Claire Sporer three of her 12 and Wyland two of her 12. Claire Sporer was 5-for-10 without an error in the Panthers' 12-point opening win, and Brenna Peruch served three aces in the first set and totaled 18 digs in the match. Megan Bailey had 34 assists against Eastern.

Plymouth sealed the win by racing to a 6-1 lead in the fourth set and later scored seven of the set's final nine points. After the Warriors pulled to within 18-10 on  junior Caryn Sibiskie's (Rockfall) service ace, Tabor and Wyland followed with kills and Wyland and Brianna Wojtas combined on a block to make it 22-10 and prompt Eastern to call time.

Eastern, which had lost only two sets in three home victories this year, got 13 kills against Plymouth from senior Adrianna Mihalek (Woodbury) and seven each from junior Carly Balskus (Hebron) and senior Kay Mullen (Fairhaven, MA). Sophomore Leah Sopneski (Deep River) – back on the court after missing two weeks with injury -- had 16 assists, and junior Amanda Tourjee (Waterford) 15. Junior Michelle Valliere (Lebanon) led the way with 19 digs and Sibiskie and Mullen evenly split eight block assists.

Against Nichols, Mihalek again topped Eastern with 14 kills and a .522 attack percentage. Mullen followed with seven kills.  Sophomore Jackie Orlowski (Woodstock) contributed three service aces and four blocks, senior Fabiana Della-Monica (Newark, DE) 18 assists and Sopneski 11 assists.  Valliere had a team-high seven digs, senior Nina Zimmitti (East Hampton) chipping in five.

Looking to close out Nichols in three, the Warriors amassed a 12-4 lead but the Bison countered with five straight points with the help of two service aces from Sabrina Boermeester to cut the gap to two, 17-15. A run of six straight points – with four different players contributing kills and Della-Monica serving an ace – allowed the Warriors to finish strong.

Against Eastern, J'ena Baker led the Bison with six of their 11 kills and with five digs. Moriah Burns had six assists  and Jayla Simmons nine digs.

Against Nichols, Plymouth won for only the second time in six matches played on a neutral court. The Panthers  moved out to a 15-4 lead in the first set with a run of six straight points as Flanagan served three straight aces (her entire match total). Nichols trailed by only three late in the second set but Plymouth closed with an 8-1 run. The Panthers scored the first 11 points of the final set and were never headed.

Against Nichols, Mikki Taffe led all players with nine kills and a .692 attack percentage (no errors on 13 attempts), with Wojtas putting away seven kills with a .385 percentage. Wojtas, Flanagan and Shannon Howland each had three service aces, Howland setting for 16 assists. Alexis Bowers and Grace Sporer combined for 15 of Plymouth's 30 digs.

Against Plymouth, Baker collected seven of her team's 12 kills, Hebron Abadi adding eight assists.  Simmons and Tamiya King combined for 13 digs.

Eastern hosts Wesleyan University Tuesday at 7 p.m.