Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. --  The Eastern Connecticut State University women's volleyball team made the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth work for its seventh straight Little East Conference victory, but, ultimately, the Corsairs prevailed to post their 15^th three-set sweep in its first 25 matches this year and send the Warriors to their third straight conference loss Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
 
For UMass Dartmouth (21-5, 7-0), senior Chelsea Sanker and 6-foot-2 inch freshman Olivia Seutter combined on 17 kills and a .319 attack as the Corsairs swept Eastern (12-10, 4-3 LEC) for the third straight year after falling to the Warriors in the previous 12 straight matches. Scores Saturday were 25-16, 25-19, 25-22.
 
In a non-conference match later in the day, Eastern swept Bay Path University (14-7) for the fourth time in the four-match series, stopping a five-game losing streak (three of them at home). Scores were 25-17, 25-18, 25-20. It was the team's eighth three-set sweep of the year, first since Sept. 28.
 
A winner of its last 15 LEC regular-season matches, defending LEC champion UMass Dartmouth remains unbeaten in the conference and Saturday's win over Eastern sets up a showdown next Saturday at home for UMass Dartmouth against Plymouth State University, also unbeaten in the LEC at 7-0 (21-3 overall).
 
As one of the conference's unbeatens through the first four LEC matches of the year, Eastern drops from a share of third place in the conference with Massachusetts Boston to a share of fourth place with Western Connecticut (which holds the tie-breaker over the Warriors on the strength of its four-set victory Oct. 23 at Danbury).
 
After losing the first two sets against UMass Dartmouth Saturday, the Warriors raced to an 8-3 lead in the third set and remained ahead until the Corsairs reeled off nine straight points to turn a four-point deficit into a five-point lead, 23-18. In that run, UMD got kills from four different players and also a service ace and capitalized on three Eastern attack errors.
 
In the first set, the Warriors led through the midway point of the set before the visitors ran off 11 unanswered points behind the serving of senior Kate Wade to move out to a nine-point, 23-14 lead. The Warriors never led after a service error gave them the first point of the second set. Down by nine late in the set, the Warriors threatened when first-year players Emma Robinson (Westlake Village, CA) had a pair of kills and Emerson Conigliaro (Wake Forest, NC) a service ace, but Wade's kill off an Eastern serve ended Eastern's hopes.
 
In two matches, Robinson and sophomore Brooke Praskievicz (Moodus) each had 15 kills and combined for 12 service aces and junior Liz Squier (Trevor, WI) collected 43 assists. Praskievicz handled 28 receptions with just one error and senior Sadie Blackwell (Southbury) 36 with just two error. Robinson and Blackwell led the team with 20 digs each, Praskievicz adding 19 and Conigliaro 12.
 
In first-round LEC matches Nov. 12, the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds host the No. 6 and No. 5 seeds, respectively. Eastern closes its conference season next Saturday at UMass Boston (15-8, 5-2 LEC).
 
Eastern visits Salem State University in a non-conference match Tuesday at 6 p.m. before travelling to face UMass Boston in the regular-season finale.