WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Junior middle blocker Anna Barry (Andover) was 7-for-8 on kills in the second set and 11-of-15 in the match as the Eastern Connecticut State University women's volleyball team won a battle of Little East Conference unbeatens with a sweep of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Sunday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium. Set scores were 25-9, 25-22, 25-17.
 
After UMass (2-1, 2-1 LEC) attacked at -.108 in Eastern's (3-0, 3-0 LEC) decisive first-set win, the Warriors attacked at only .172 in the tight Set 2 victory, but Barry put down her first six attempts of the set and seven of eight with one error to lift Eastern to the important victory. In that second set, Eastern sailed to a 12-point, 18-6 lead before the Corsairs bounced back with a 15-4 run that cut the margin to one, 22-21.
 
UMass scored eight straight points to whittle a nine-point Eastern lead to that single point in that second set, cutting it to 22-21 on an Eastern attack error.  Going for the tie, the Corsairs committed an attack error on their next possession, and Eastern senior Abby Stern (Manchester) contributed a kill on a cross-court attack to make it 24-21.  Eastern sophomore Nayeli Cruz Martinez (Toa Baja, P.R.) closed it out with her only kill of the set.
 
There were four early ties in the third set before the Warriors put together a mini 5-2 run that opened up a five-point, 17-12 lead and used a match-ending 5-1 run to seal the win. Eastern's final three points came on a service ace by junior Madison Bell (Salem) and kills from Stern and senior Lauren Notholt (Milford).
 
Stern followed Barry with nine kills and a .286 attack percentage, with senior Alaetra Long (Lincoln, NE) adding eight kills and a .500 attack percentage.  Junior Meg Verizzi (Lebanon) had 21 assists and freshman Paula Victoria Hernandez Aulet (Manti, P.R.) and sophomore Paula Perez (Caguas, P.R.) each had three of Eastern's 12 service aces. Long also had seven digs and Verizzi six and Barry had six blocks.
 
UMass freshman outside hitter Devon Laing had six kills and nine digs and handled 25 serve receptions without an error, with freshman outside Gabby Monico adding five kills, nine digs and two service aces and freshman middle Marley Alexander  five kills with a .286 attack percentage.  Sophomore Courtney Carreiro had 16 assists and sophomore libero Vanessa Barreto had nine digs
 
The win was Eastern's 47^th in the 50-match series,  20^th at home against UMD without a loss, 14^th in straight sets.
 
In its final two LEC regular-season matches, Eastern visits Plymouth State University Wednesday at 7 p.m. and closes out at home April 30 hosting Castleton University at 6 p.m.