WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Eastern Connecticut State volleyball dropped a tough five-set contest to Connecticut College, 25-12, 17-25, 18-25, 25-22, 15-8, in Geissler Gym on Wednesday (Sept. 23).
Eastern (7-3) was led on offense by
Haley Jo Bridges with 11 kills. Both
Sierra York and
Emma Robinson had 10 kills.
Lauren Lacy led the Warriors with 17 assists and
Sonya Nielsen had 16.
The Warriors did a lot of damage against Connecticut College (3-6) at the service line as Eastern matched its season-high with 16 aces for the second-straight match. Robinson picked up seven aces and Nielsen had five. The Warriors had a 16-5 advantage in aces on the night.
On defense, Eastern finished with 63 digs, led by 18 from
Emerson Conigliaro.
Brooke Praskievicz had 13 and Robinson and Lacy each finished with 11 to give them both double-doubles.
After a slow start cost the Warriors set one, Eastern bounced back with Robinson on the service line. Down 8-4, three-straight kills by York started a 10-0 run that featured four aces from Robinson. The Camels tried to get back into the set making it 21-17 in favor of the Warriors before kills from Praskievicz and Bridges were followed by two more aces from Robinson to end the set.
Up 9-7 in the third, Eastern took control with a 7-1 run to push the lead to 16-8. Eastern maintained the advantage until earning set point after an error. Two points later, Bridges put Eastern up 2-1 in the match with a kill.
An 8-0 run that featured three aces from Nielsen put Eastern up 11-3 in the fourth but Conn College battled back, using a 8-1 run to take a 19-18 lead. Bridges and York picked up kills to pull back within one at 22-21 but the Camels scored three of the next four points to force a fifth set.
In Eastern's second-straight five set match, the Warriors fell into an early hole, going down 8-3. A kill by
Lyla Passwater and ace from Conigliaro make it 11-8 but Connecticut College closed out the match with a 4-0 run.
UP NEXT
Eastern will start conference play on Saturday (Sept. 26) with a match against Keene State at home beginning at 1 p.m.
