DARTMOUTH, Mass. --  Kate Wade had 12 kills and a .312 attacked percentage to power the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to its second Little East Conference sweep of Eastern Connecticut State University after 12 straight losses Friday evening at the Tripp Athletic Center. Scores were 25-22, 25-18, 25-16.
 
With its ninth straight win (eighth in straight sets), UMass (17-6, 7-0 LEC) sets up a showdown for the Little East regular-season title and No. 1 tournament seed with Plymouth State University (18-3, 7-0 LEC) Nov. 4 at Plymouth, NH. The Corsairs have never won the LEC regular-season championship.
 
Eastern (11-12, 3-4 LEC), which has attacked under .100 in losing seven of its last nine, drops into a two-way tie for fifth place in the conference with Keene State College but holds tie-breakers over the three teams below it: Rhode Island College, VTSU Castleton and the University of Southern Maine.
 
If Eastern loses on the final day of the regular season Nov. 4 against visiting University of Massachusetts Boston, the Warriors will (unofficially) still qualify for the tournament unless Rhode Island defeats both Keene State (3-4 LEC) Saturday and Western Connecticut State University (4-2 LEC) Nov. 4.
 
Senior Paige Savitsky (Centereach, NY) and sophomore Taylor Thompson (West Point, NY) combined for 14 kills for Eastern against the Corsairs, with sophomore Liz Squier (Trevor, WI) setting for 14 assists. First-year hitter Brooke Praskievicz (Moodus) and sophomore Sadie Blackwell (Southbury) each had 16 digs.
 
Looking to avoid only its second losing season in the last 14, Eastern visits Westfield State University in a non-conference match Tuesday at 7 p.m. before closing out the regular season Nov. 4 hosting UMass Boston.