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WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – First-year player Emma Robinson (Westlake Village, CA) had 17 kills with a .333 attack percentage and five service aces and the Eastern Connecticut State University women's volleyball team forced 11 reception errors in a four-set Little East Conference victory over VTSU Castleton on Senior Day Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium. Scores were 21-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-17.
 
The win gives Eastern (11-6, 4-0 LEC) its first 4-0 start in conference play (excluding the 2020-21 Covid season) since the Warriors won all seven of their LEC contests in 2006 en route to capturing the regular-season and playoff titles. Eastern improved to 7-0 all-time against Castleton (9-9, 0-4 LEC).
 
The match-high kill total is two shy of the season-high for Robinson, the team leader in kills (201), kills per set (3.35) and service aces (29) this year. Robinson also had five of the team's 11 service aces.
 
Robinson was one of three Eastern players with double-digit kills and was joined by senior Bella Johnson (Marlborough) and sophomore Brooke Praskievicz (Moodus). Johnson had 13 kills with a .333 attack percentage. Praskievicz had ten kills also led Eastern with 22 digs and handled 17 receptions without an error. Praskievicz is the team leader in digs (191), digs per set (3.29), reception attempts (296) and reception percentage (.966) this season.
 
Sophomore middle Haley Jo Bridges (Montebello, NY) added nine kills and attacked at a match-high .412 and junior setter Liz Squier (Trevor, WI) recorded 41 assists.
 
Defensively, first-year libero Emerson Conigliaro (Wake Forest, NC) handled 19 receptions with one error and junior libero Sadie Blackwell (Southbury) 21 with only two errors.  The pair also combined for 24 digs.
 
With the match tied at 1-all, the Warriors persevered to take the all-important third set by three points in a set where there were eight ties and four lead changes, playing the set without a reception error. Robinson led everyone with seven kills – one shy of the Spartans' team total – in that third set, with Praskievicz and Blackwell combining on 12 digs and  Squier  collecting 11 assists. The Warriors broke the final tie by scoring four straight to move out to a 23-19 lead. Praskievicz broke the tie with a kill and proceeded to serve the next three points, all courtesy of kills by Robinson on passes from Squier.
 
In their second match of the day, the Warriors were swept in a non-conference match against Western New England University (15-4) by scores of 25-17, 25-18 and 30-28.
 
After attacking at .193 against Castleton, Eastern managed just .068 with nine reception errors against the Golden Bears, who got 19 kills (with a .366 attack percentage) and 12 digs from senior outside Alissa Hawes and five service aces and 35 assists from senior setter Taylor Geist, the latter not having played in her team's five-set win earlier in the day against Castleton.
 
Against Western New England, Robinson had seven kills and three service aces, Johnson six kills, Squier 16 assists and matched Conigliaro's total of  11 digs.
 
On the day, Robinson had 24 kills and eight service aces, Johnson 19 kills, Praskievicz 14 kills and 28 digs without an error on 22 reception attempts. Bridges added 11 kills, Squier 57 assists, Conigliaro 22 digs and Blackwell 18. Johnson recorded her 500th career kill on the day, Squier moved to within 54 assists of 1,000 in her career and Praskievicz within nine of 500 digs and seven of 300 kills.
 
Heading into the second half of the LEC regular season, the Warriors face the iron of the conference the rest of the way: Western Connecticut Oct. 23, Plymouth State University Oct. 26, Massachusetts Dartmouth Nov. 2 and Massachusetts Boston in the regular-season finale Nov. 9. The four teams are currently a combined 55-21 overall, 10-3 in the conference. Plymouth is 18-1 overall and shares the top spot with Eastern in the conference standings, while UMass Dartmouth is also unbeaten (3-0) in the LEC and 15-5 overall.
 
All but the UMass Dartmouth match will be played on the road, where Eastern has won four and lost three.
 
Eastern hosts Connecticut College in a non-conference match Wednesday at 7 p.m.