CASTLETON, Vt. – After attacking at .185 and squeaking out a two-point first-set win, the Eastern Connecticut State University women's volleyball team attacked at .400 in the final two sets to post a 25-23, 25-9, 25-8 Little East Conference victory over Castleton University Saturday afternoon at Glenbrook Gymnasium.
With the win, Eastern (11-5, 3-2 LEC) improved to 6-1 this year on its opponent's home court and ended a four-match losing streak which included two conference losses after two opening LEC victories. Eastern was the pre-season favorite to win the conference regular season, while Castleton was picked ninth in a nine-team conference.
The Warriors closed out the afternoon with a 24-26, 25-19, 25-11, 25-15 win over SUNY Delhi (13-5) in the first meeting between the programs. Eastern remained undefeated (4-0) against Castleton (4-11, 0-4 LEC) with the win over the Spartans and has won 12 of 13 sets.
Eastern led, 22-18 late in the first set against Castleton but two attack errors and a service error helped the Spartans move to within one, 24-23. With Castleton serving, Eastern closed out the set when senior setter
Meg Verizzi (Lebanon) and outside hitter
Alaetra Long (Lincoln, NE) combined for a set-ending kill.
The Warriors survived the two-point, first-set loss to Delhi for three straight relatively easy victories. After attacking at .174 in the first-set loss, the Warriors took a 2-set-to-1 lead by attacking at .390 in the middle two sets. In the third set, Eastern attacked at .462, led by senior
Abby Stern (Manchester) and first-year player
Bella Johnson (Marlborough). Stern had six kills on 11 attempts for a .455 attack mark and Johnson was 3-for-3.
Against Castleton, Johnson, Long and first-year sophomore
Stacie Kinlen (Thornwood, NY) combined for 15 kills without an error, Verizzi had 27 assists, seven digs and three service aces. Long had a team-high eight kills and matched Verizzi with three service aces.
Against Delhi, which shares the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) lead at 4-0, senior
Anna Barry (Andover), Johnson, Long and Stern combined for 44 kills, Verizzi had 40 assists and junior
Paula Perez (Caguas, P.R.) 13 digs. Stern's eight service aces were just one shy of the four-set match record. With 14 digs on the day, Stern moved to within 14 of 1,000 career digs.
Eastern hosts Rhode Island College (7-9, 2-3 LEC) Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a conference match at Geissler Gymnasium, the Warriors having beaten RIC the last ten times the teams have met. RIC was ranked eighth in the LEC pre-season poll.
