Box Score
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Within striking distance of forcing a decisive fifth set and advancing to the tournament semifinals for the eighth time in the last 11 years, the fourth-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University women's volleyball team committed four attack errors down the stretch of the fourth set and was eliminated in the first round of the Little East Conference tournament by fifth-seeded Western Connecticut State University Tuesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium. Scores were 23-25, 21-25, 25-9, 17-25.
 
After winning 13 of its first 17 matches this year and its first three in the Little East, Eastern (17-8) dropped five of its final eight and bowed out in the first round of the tournament for the third straight season.
 
Since losing three straight LEC matches to Plymouth State University at home and Eastern and LEC tournament top seed University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on the road eight days apart – winning only one set in the process -- surging Western (20-6) has not lost, a string of eight straight victories.
 
WestConn will advance to Thursday's semifinals at top-seeded and defending tournament champion UMass Dartmouth at 7 p.m. In the other semifinal Thursday, second-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston will host third-seeded Plymouth State University at 6 p.m. Host Plymouth eliminated sixth-seeded Keene State College in four sets Tuesday evening.
 
Against WestConn, Eastern lost the first two sets by a total of six points, then romped to its 16-point victory in the third set. Hoping to extend the match to a fifth set for the third time in the last five LEC tournament games against Western (Eastern winning both of the previous five-set decisions in 2021 and 2022 – both on the road) Eastern cut a four-point deficit to one, 17-16, on one of junior middle Haley Jo Bridges' (Montebello, NY) four kills in the set. That was as close as it would come, however, as the Wolves answered with eight of the final nine points to close out their seventh win over the  Warriors in the last 11 meetings.
 
After Eastern scored three straight points on two Bridges' kills and a WestConn attack error to pull to within that 17-16 score, a combination of four Eastern attack errors and a pair of kills by junior Julia Stoliker settled matters.
 
Following an opening service error, Eastern never trailed in the emphatic third-set victory, rattling off seven straight points behind the serving of senior libero Samantha Blandford (Windham, NH) to move out to a quick 8-2 lead. In that run, sophomore Emma Robinson (Westlake Village, CA) and first-year player Allegra Copeland (Beaumont, CA) each had kills and Blandford contributed two aces. The 5-foot-11 inch Stoliker, who attacked at .042 (six kills and five errors) in Eastern's sweep of the Wolves  a month ago, attacked at .256 with 15 kills Tuesday, with senior Sydney Slupatchuk and freshman Hallie Robillard each adding eight kills (despite attacking at a combined .017).
 
Junior Brooke Praskievicz (Moodus) matched Stoliker with 15 kills and had a .233 attack percentage, with Bridges and Robinson each reaching double figures in kills with ten apiece (the 5-foot-10 inch Bridges attacked at .533 on 15 tries and also collected five of the team's eight blocks), with Copeland adding seven kills with a .308 percentage. Senior Liz Squier (Trevor, WI) and first-year player Sonya Nielsen (Waterford, WI) combined for 40 assists. Sophomore Emerson Conigliaro (Raleigh, NC) led both teams with 21 digs.