WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Freshman Stasie Litinsky served six service aces – three coming when her team tied the match with a second-set win – as the Wesleyan University women's volleyball team defeated Eastern Connecticut State University for the third straight year, 3-1, Tuesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium. Set scores were 22-25, 25-11, 25-12, 25-19.

Wesleyan (5-1) – which features ten freshmen -- collected 12 service aces in the match, six players contributing at least one. Freshman Gabby Bennett led the way offensively by connecting on 11 of 12 attack attempts – including her first eight in a row. Freshman Nicole Hilton followed Bennett by  going 8-for-12 without an error offensively. As a team, the Cardinals attacked at .321 and showed a .917 reception percentage. Eastern attacked at .186 with an .868 reception percentage.

With seven seniors on the roster, Eastern led early in the first set and was never headed, closing out the victory on a kill from junior Carly Balskus (Hebron) and Wesleyan bad set. Sophomore Madeleinie Lundberg had five kills and Litinsky her three service aces as the Cardinals cruised in the second set. They raced to a 13-3 lead while Eastern (9-4) was attempting to slow them with two timeouts.

Wesleyan maintained the momentum to follow with another easy victory in the third second. Leading 17-10, Wesleyan outscored Eastern 8-2 the rest of the way. Litinsky had a kill and two service aces down the stretch to preserve the win. Wesleyan broke the ninth and final tie with three consecutive points to snap an 11-all deadlock. Bennett had a kill and block solo and Kaira Muraoka-Robertson a service ace to make it 14-11.

Muraoka-Robertson  had 30 assists in the match and freshman libero Olivia Guidotti 13 digs. Lundberg, Bennett and Hilton each had three blocks.

Junior Caryn Sibiskie (Rockfall) had seven kills and only two error on 11 attempts for Eastern, with senior Adrianna Mihalek (Woodbury) matching Wesleyan's Lundberg with 13 kills, senior Ashley Adams (Mystic) adding seven. Junior libero Michelle Valliere (Lebanon) had three service aces, Mihalek 11 digs and Adams and Sibiskie three blocks each. Mihalek commited only two errors on 24 receptin attempts.

Eastern visits Massachusetts Boston Saturday at 1 p.m. for a Little East Conference match.

Wesleyan 3, Eastern Conn. 1

Wesleyan (5-1)                        22        25        25        25

Eastern (9-4)                           25        11        12        19