Box Score
PLYMOUTH, N.H. – A fast start against teams residing in the bottom half of the Little East Conference standings has given way to difficult sledding against the iron of the conference, the Warriors dropping their second LEC match in in four days by scores of 26-24, 25-18, 25-12 to unbeaten conference leader Plymouth State University Saturday afternoon at Foley Gymnasium.
 
After sharing the Little East lead by winning its first four LEC contests, Eastern (11-9, 4-2 LEC) dropped three of four sets Wednesday at Western Connecticut  and the loss to Plymouth (21-2, 7-0 LEC) – which has reached the LEC championship game each of the last two years – gives it four straight losses with five matches remaining in the regular season.
 
And the LEC going will not get easier as Eastern closes its conference slate hosting 2023 playoff championship University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (19-5, 6-0 LEC) Saturday at noon and visiting the University of Massachusetts Boston (13-8, 4-2 LEC) in the regular-season final Nov. 9 at the Clark Athletic Center.
 
The Warriors share third place with UMass Boston – picked one spot ahead of Eastern in fifth place in the LEC pre-season poll. The top six seeds qualify for the LEC playoffs which get underway Nov. 12.
 
Saturday marked the fourth straight time that the Panthers have swept the Warriors as Plymouth won for the tenth time in its last 11 matches this year.
 
There were nine ties and three lead changes in the first set. The Warriors had a chance to close out the win while serving when a Plymouth service error gave Eastern set point at 24-23, but 2023 LEC Offensive Player-of-the-Year Nora Ryan, a 6-foot-1 inch graduate middle hitter, tied it with a kill, and after a bad Eastern set, first-team All-LEC performer Lilli Stogner recorded the set-ending kill.
 
In the second set, Plymouth never trailed and broke the only tie in the early going. With Eastern down by four, sophomore Brooke Praskievicz (Moodus) had a service ace to cut the deficit to three before the Panthers responded with the next four points on two kills, a service ace and an Eastern attack error.
 
Senior Bella Johnson (Marlborough) and Praskievicz combined for 15 of the team's 28 kills -- Johnson leading the way with eight – but the Warriors attacked at only .017. Praskievicz also led the Warriors with 14 digs and was perfect on 16 reception attempts, as was junior Sadie Blackwell (Southbury). Junior Liz Squier (Trevor, WI) had 21 assists, with first-year player Emerson Conigliaro (Wake Forest, NC) cleanly handling 23 of 25 reception attempts.
 
Plymouth senior Lindsey Sanderson led both teams with ten kills and a .474 attack percentage, with Makayla Marucci and Stogner combining for 28 digs. As a team, Plymouth had 17 blocks.
 
In addition to hosting UMass Dartmouth Saturday at noon, Eastern faces Bath Path University in a non-conference match at 4 p.m.