WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Eastern Connecticut State volleyball (13-8, 4-4 Little East) closed out its regular season with a sweep over Southern Maine (7-18, 1-7 Little East) in Geissler Gymnasium on Saturday (Nov. 7), 25-12, 25-20, 25-13.
Eastern was led by
Haley Jo Bridges and
Brooke Praskievicz with eight kills each.
Emma Robinson was right behind with six kills.
Lauren Lacy paced the offense with 11 assists and
Sonya Nielsen added eight.
On defense,
Emerson Conigliaro posted a team-high 13 digs and Robinson added seven.
The Warriors finished the match with nine service aces with six different Warriors collecting at least one ace.
Early in the first set, Southern Maine held a 4-2 lead before Eastern scored five-straight to jump ahead 7-4 after a block by the duo of Bridges and Praskievicz. With the score 9-7, Eastern took control of the set with a 7-1 run to make the score 16-8. A service ace and multiple errors for the Huskies pushed Eastern's lead to 21-10 and Praskievicz closed out the set with three kills.
Eastern blitzed Southern Maine out of the gates in set two, taking a 4-0 lead and going up 10-3 after kills from Bridges and Praskievicz. Southern Maine cut the Warriors' lead to two at 15-13 but Eastern responded with four-straight points to go back up 19-13. An ace from
Samantha Melillo gave Eastern set point. The Huskies fought off three points before a kill from
Finnley Wilson gave the Warriors a 2-0 set lead.
Down 5-4 to start the third, Eastern started to get on a roll with three-straight points. After a Huskies point, the Warriors went on a 6-0 run with two aces from
Elena Stein to push the lead to 13-6. Another 6-1 run, that ended with a kill from Robinson put Eastern up 19-9. A kill from
Keegan Connolly closed out the match for the Warriors.
UP NEXT
Eastern will be the No. 5 seed in the Little East Conference Volleyball Tournament that will begin on Tuesday (Nov. 10).
