DANBURY, Conn. – In a match between teams headed in opposite directions down the stretch this year, third-seeded Western Connecticut State University won its fifth straight match in straight sets Tuesday evening at Feldman Arena as sixth-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University was eliminated in the first round of the Little East Conference women's volleyball tournament for the first time in seven years. Scores were 25-21, 25-14, 27-25.
 
A team which lost all four of its All-Little East selections from a year ago – including two-time All-America and three-time LEC Player-of-the-Year Anna Barry -- Eastern (11-15) lost ten of its last 12 after a 9-5 start and finished under .500 for the first time since 2015.
 
Eastern, which had upset higher-seed WestConn (20-7) each of the last two years on the Wolves' home court in the first round,  erased an early deficit in the first set and led,16-15, before the hosts reeled off four straight points on an Eastern service error, reception error and attack error and a kill by Helen Megson to take control.
 
Facing elimination after an 11-point loss in the second set, the Warriors led from the start of the third set (by as many as eight points in the early going) and by five points, 20-15. The Wolves countered with five consecutive points to tie the match at 20-20 but kills by senior Paige Savitsky (Centereach, NY) and junior Taylor Smith (Bowie, MD) moved the Warriors to within set point and with the service. Amaya Rodriguez' kill broke set point, however, and an Eastern attack error and a kill by Taylor Rohan ended Eastern's season.
 
Smith led Eastern with a .308 attack percentage on five kills. Sophomore Liz Squier (Trevor, WI) had 12 assists and first-year player Brooke Praskievicz (Moodus) had 11 digs. Rodriguez of WestConn attacked at .304 on the strength of nine kills and Olivia Monteleone had 35 assists.
 
A winner of eight of its last nine, WestConn visits second-seeded Plymouth State University in Thursday's semifinals at Foley Gymnasium.