WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Unbeaten on its home court this year and with an opportunity to secure a bye into the Little East Conference semifinals, pre-season conference favorite Eastern Connecticut State University was swept by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth for the first time in the 52-match history of the series Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium. Scores were 25-16, 25-20, 25-15.
 
Seeded fifth, Eastern (14-9, 5-3 LEC) takes a season-high four-match losing streak into a first-round road match Tuesday at 7 p.m. at fourth-seed Western Connecticut State University (14-10, 5-3 LEC), which pinned a four-set loss on the Warriors a month ago. The teams shared fourth place in the final conference standings but the Wolves earned the higher seed based on its regular-season victory over the Warriors.
 
UMass Dartmouth (19-7, 6-2 LEC), which split eight LEC regular-season games a year ago, gains the No. 3 seed and play a first-round home match Tuesday against sixth-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston. UMass Dartmouth shares second place in the final standings with Keene State College, but Keene won the tie-breaker and earned the No. 2 seed by virtue of its five-set road win over UMass Dartmouth during the regular season.
 
Blocking was the name of the game Saturday -- UMass did it with 16, and Eastern didn't, with none -- when UMass Dartmouth snapped a 12-match losing streak against Eastern and defeated the Warriors for only the fourth time in the all-time series.
 
Nine of the Corsairs' points in the 73-minute match came on a total of 16 blocks and played a large role when the Warriors attacked at a season-low .040 and were beaten at home for the first time this year after eight wins. Junior Maggie Sullivan led the Corsairs with five block assists and two block solos, with four teammates adding two block assists apiece.
 
Offensively, UMass Dartmouth attacked at .321. Sullivan was also a factor with five kills and a .714 attack percentage, with sophomore Chelsea Sanker and sophomore Kate Wade  providing fire-power with nine kills each. Sanker attacked at .533. Freshman libero Emily Pogorelec, Wade and junior Devon Laing  all had eight digs  and freshman setter Sabrina Bordone set for 17 assists.
 
Senior All-America Anna Barry (Andover) and sophomore Bella Johnson (Marlborough) combined for 17 kills for Eastern but attacked at only .154 in what likely will be Eastern's final home match of the season. Senior libero Paula Perez (Caguas, P.R.) was perfect on 29 receptions and led both teams with 15 digs and three service aces. Senior setter Meg Verizzi (Lebanon) had 27 assists. Senior Nayeli Cruz Martinez (Toa Baja, P.R.), one of the team's most effective offensive (.321 attack percentage/team-high 59 aces) and defensive (second on the team with 27 blocks) players, left the first set with injury and Eastern trailing, 15-10, and did not return.
 
UMass  took the lead for good early in the first set and used an 8-1 run to secure the win, then played come-from-behind in the second set to move within a win of the sweep. In that second set,  Eastern grabbed the early momentum by scoring the first four points and holding the lead throughout most of the set before the Corsairs reeled off the final ten points to wipe out a five-point, 20-15 deficit. UMass trailed by a slim margin through the first part of the final set but scored six in a row to move out to a 15-10 lead and was never threatened the rest of the way.

WestConn has won its last seven sets in winning its last three regular-season matches while Eastern has dropped its last 11 sets during its four-match losing streak. The Wolves are 10-1 at the William A. O'Neill Center, losing only in five sets to UMass Dartmouth two weeks ago after dropping the first two sets of that match. Eastern is 4-6 on its opponents' home court and 6-8 overall away from home this year. The teams have played the full five sets the last two times they have met in Danbury in the first round of the LEC tournament. The Wolves prevailed in 2015 while the Warriors won the decisive set, 18-16, last year in the five-set match decided by a total of only 16 points to reach the tournament final at UMass Boston, where they lost in five.