Box Score

Eastern Conn. 3, U. of Southern Maine 0
(25-15, 25-9, 25-15)
 
Upcoming:
The fourth-seeded Warriors (17-7, 5-3 LEC) will host a first-round game in the Little East Conference tournament on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium after defeating the University of Southern Maine (8-23, 1-7 LEC) for the fifth straight time and finishing with a share of fourth place in the final standings with Western Connecticut State University (19-6, 5-3 LEC). Fifth-seeded Western Connecticut (19-6, 5-3 LEC) gained a share of fourth place with its seventh straight win Friday night, a sweep of Keene State College.
 
The winner of Tuesday's match will visit top-seeded and defending tournament champion University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (20-7, 7-1 LEC) Thursday. The Corsairs   ended the regular season Nov. 1 with its first loss in 15 matches in four sets at Plymouth State University.
 
Eastern and WestConn will be meeting for the fourth straight year in the first round of the tournament (Eastern winning each of the first two years in five sets, losing in a sweep in 2023 and in four sets in 2024)  – but for the first time at Geissler Gym in the tournament in 30 years (since Eastern hosted and won a one-day LEC tournament in 1995).
 
Since being swept at Eastern a month ago and losing three days later at UMass Dartmouth, WestConn has not lost, with five of the matches ending in sweeps.
 
The Warriors ended the regular season with two straight wins (both sweeps) after a stretch of four losses in their previous five games. The Warriors completed the regular season with a 9-2 record in sweeps and also won three of five matches that went five.
 
Set-by-set vs. Southern Maine
Set 1:  At 7-6 in the first set, Eastern started to pull away from the Huskies. The run started with a kill from Emma Robinson (Westlake Village, CA), before Haley Jo Bridges (Montebello, NY) added two more to open the gap. All three were assisted by Sonya Nielsen (Waterford, WI). Brooke Praskievicz (Moodus) played a major role in the rest of the set, tallying six kills before the beginning of the second set.
 
Set 2: In a dominant second set, the Warriors got off to a furious start, building a 10-1 lead to quickly put themselves in control. After Southern Maine took a 1-0 lead, Eastern Connecticut benefited from an attack error and responded with a kill from Allegra Copeland (Beaumont, CA). The Warriors then scored their last eight points of the run on either an Robinson kill or  Praskievicz service ace. Bridges had back-to-back blocks later in the set, with Sierra York (Ashford) contributing on the second.
 
Set 3: In the third set, the Warriors started the same way as the second. York earned the majority of her stats in this final set, putting the Warriors well on their way to a sweep. The Huskies went on an impressive five-point run with the set coming to an end. Kylee Eubanks-Hemme recorded a kill in-between four Warrior attack errors, but it wasn't enough to prevent Eastern to a comfortable win in their last regular season match of the year.

Key Stats:

• Praskievicz recorded five service aces on the day. She was one of seven Warriors to have an ace. Southern Maine only had one, coming from Amelia Beatty
• Robinson was the only player to hit double digits in both kills and digs, with 11 and 10, respectively. Her .556 attack percentage was a season-high and helped the Warriors finish at .243 – their sixth-best mark this year. Bridges had six kills without an error for a .750 percentage.
• Emerson Conigliaro (Raleigh, NC) had nine digs, Squier eight.
• Conigliaro and Robinson combined to handle 23 serves without an error, the Warriors committing only one miscue on serves.
• Liz Squier (Trevor, WI) had 20 assists, leading all players. Southern Maine's Reese Helisek wasn't far behind, with 14.