DANBURY, Conn. – In a battle of early-season Little East Conference unbeatens, the Eastern Connecticut State University women's volleyball team entered its regular-season match against Western Connecticut State University on a hot streak.
Problem was that the host Wolves might have been hotter.
While Eastern (9-3, 2-1 LEC) had won its previous seven, WestConn (6-7, 3-0 LEC) had won its previous six all in sweeps after losing its first seven matches of the year (five against out-of-region opponents).
The Warriors
were able to snap WestConn's streak of 17 consecutive set victories with a third-set win, but the hosts eventually prevailed by scores of 25-17, 25-20, 24-26, 30-32, Wednesday night at Feldman Arena.
Behind
Anna Barry's (Andover) record-tying 31 kills, Eastern had ended a five-match losing streak at WestConn last year with a five-set victory over the higher-seeded Wolves in the first-round of the LEC tournament en route to a spot in the tournament final.
Wednesday, Barry had only nine kills with an uncharacteristic .143 attack percentage (with WestConn's 12 blocks playing a role in that futility) and the Warriors attacked at only .119 as a team and committed 13 reception errors.
For WestConn, Ellayna Beutel and Anna Cascapera combined for 32 kills – Beutel attacking at .438 – three WestConn players combined for five block solos and ten assists and three combined for ten service aces.
On the brink of being swept after losing the first two sets and trailing, 19-10, in the third, Eastern forced a fourth set with a 26-24 victory. It set up a dramatic back-and-forth fourth set flurry with WestConn eventually outlasting the visitors courtesy of Beutel's final floor of the night, rounding the count out at 32-30.
Junior
Paige Savitsky (Centereach, NY) matched Barry with nine kills and added 11 digs, senior setter
Meg Verizzi (Lebanon) handed out 31 assists and senior libero
Paula Perez (Caguas, P.R.) collected 23 digs.
Eastern hosts Keene State College (3-10, 1-1 LEC) Saturday at 1 p.m. in a conference match. The Owls, playing a highly-competitive schedule, stopped a three-match losing streak by sweeping visiting Plymouth State University in an LEC match Wednesday night.
