DANBURY, Conn. - Fourth-seeded Western Connecticut
State University knocked off fifth-seeded Plymouth State
University, 3-1, Tuesday evening in a Little East Conference
tournament quarterfinal match at Feldman Arena.
The Colonials improve to 19-8 overall and advance to the LEC
semifinals Friday evening at Keene State College, where they will
face the top-seeded Owls at 6:00 p.m. PSU falls to 19-14 and awaits
a possible ECAC Tournament berth, which will be announced on Monday
(Nov. 10).
The action in set one was very even with several lead changes and
tie scores. Trailing 18-16, WestConn staged a rally to take a
22-21 lead, prompting a Plymouth State time out. The
Colonials maintained their focus however, and closed out the game,
25-22, scoring nine of the final 13 points.
In set two, WestConn rushed out to a lead of 10-5, only to see the
Panthers score nine of the next 10 points to take a 14-11 lead.
Plymouth State's blockers had an answer for every WestConn
attempt to generate offense and the Panthers cruised to a 25-15
victory.
WestConn again dominated play early in set three, leading by scores
of 7-4 and 16-6. With the Colonials holding a 20-10 lead,
Plymouth State mounted a comeback to pull with two at 23-21.
WestConn then scored the next two points to hold on for a
25-21 win.
In set four, Plymouth State took the early lead, 10-5, but WestConn
battled back to move ahead, 15-14. With the game tied 20-20
and the match still up for grabs, WestConn found a way to score
points down the stretch and served the next five points to take the
game, 25-20, and the match, 3-1.
Natalie Crosby (East Haven, Conn.) led the
WestConn offense with 17 kills, followed by Sarah
Stevens (Seymour, Conn.) with 14 kills.
Samantha Hathaway (Milford, Conn.) handed
out a game-high 50 assists. On defense, the Colonials were
led by Kelley Collins (Massapequa, N.Y.) with 18
digs, Chrissy Bell (Prospect, Conn.) with 15 digs,
and Becca Stein (Kingston, N.Y.) with five blocks.
Junior Eliza Badeau (Foster, R.I.) had 15 kills
and five blocks to lead PSU, while junior Carly
Newton (Centerville, Mass.) added 10 kills.
Brianna Kleckner (Terryville, Conn.) handed
out 22 assists and senior Sarah Spears (Meredith,
N.H.) made 18 digs.
(Courtesy of Western Connecticut Sports Information)
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