SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Freshman Abby Stern (Manchester) had 11 kills and junior Leah Sopneski (Deep River) 22 assists as the Eastern Connecticut State University women's volleyball team bounced back from a four-set loss to Western New England University to sweep of Westfield State University in a pair of non-conference matches Saturday afternoon at the Alumni Healthful Living Center on the WNEU campus.

In a contested four-set match where the winning team won by less than five points, WNEU (9-8) became the first team to defeat visiting Eastern (9-6) on its home court in five matches this year. WNEU won by scores of 25-20, 23-25, 25-18, 25-21.

Against Westfield (6-9), which had swept Eastern three weeks ago at the Trinity College Invitational, the Warriors won with relative ease, 25-15, 25-16, 25-19.

A winner of the first two sets against Westfield, Eastern attacked at .407 without a reception error in the third set to close out the match. Stern led the way in the third set with five kills and no errors while Sopneski had eight assists and freshman freshman Alaetra Long (Lincoln, NE) five digs and senior Carly Balskus (Hebron) two block assists.

Against Westfield, Eastern commited only three reception errors and attacked at .272. Stern attacked at .250, Long had nine kills and a .333 attack percentage, and Balskus chipped in seven kills with a .308 attack percentage and two service aces to go along with her two block assists.

Defensively against the Owls, senior co-captain Michelle Valliere (Lebanon) led both teams with 17 digs and combined with Long and Stern to handle40 serves with just two errors.

After dropping the first set to WNEU, Eastern emerged with the two-point win in the second set to even a match which featured 24 ties and nine lead changes. Eastern clung to slim leads throughout most of the second set until WNEU scored four straight points to take its first lead since scoring the first point, 20-19. With the score tied at 23, sophomore Mckenzie Maneggia (Andover) contributed one of her two kills on the afternoon on a pass from Valliere, and Stern and sophomore Natalia Rickey (Plainfield) teamed up for a set-ending block for the two-point victory.

In seven sets on the afternoon, Stern had 33 kills and a .242 attack percentage, 26 serves with only one error, 21 digs, three service aces and four blocks; Long added 15 kills and 34 digs; Balskus 14 kills and three blocks, Sopneski 48 assists and Maneggia 25; Valliere a team-high 43 digs, and freshman Lauren Notholt (Milford) four blocks. Valliere, Stern and Long had a combined 124 reception attempts with 11 errors for a .911 mark.

Eastern hosts Rhode Island College in a Little East Conference match Tuesday at 7 p.m.