Box Score

BIDDEFORD, Maine --After dropping the opening set, the Roger Williams University women's volleyball team rebounded for a close win in the second before pulling out a 3-1 victory over the University of New England Saturday afternoon at the Campus Center, and capping an unbeaten 8-0 regular-season in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play. The set scores were 22-25, 25-22, 25-14, and 25-15.

Winners of 17 straight matches, the Hawks improve to 26-3 on the year, and are set to be the top seed with a first round bye in the upcoming CCC Championship, which begins on Tuesday. The Nor'easters (15-13) drop to 4-4 in league contests, and will travel to No. 4 Western New England on the tournament's opening day. The official release of pairings will come later this weekend.

UNE led 10-8 in the opening frame before running off six of seven points to assume a 16-9 cushion. The advantage was eight (22-14) until five unanswered from RWU closed the gap to three, but Big Blue would not allow its opponent to get any closer and finished off the set, 25-22.

The second was even more tightly contested, featuring nine ties and three lead changes to bring the score to 22-all, prior to a UNE attack error and a pair of kills from Hawks sophomore Krystie Luczynski (Kensington, Conn.) to get the match level at a set apiece. Things were tied up at 8-8 in the third before RWU took the next seven points to establish control, and the Hawks established a similar lead in the fourth with an early run, en route to the triumph.

Leading the way for Roger Williams was senior Marybeth Torpey (Quincy, Mass.), who had 17 kills and 13 digs. Luczynski added 15 kills, while senior Natasha Sopchak (Rhinebeck, N.Y.) chipped in with seven, to go with a solo block and three block assists.

Junior setter Emily Lebowitz (Coventry, Conn.) compiled an impressive 47 assists in the match to generate the attack, and classmate Kelsee Loche (Millis, Mass.) finished with a team-high 21 digs.

UNE received 15 kills from first-year Leah Janelle (Madbury, N.H.), and 12 from both junior Paige Curran (Chelmsford, Mass.) and sophomore Angie Brunette (North Andover, Mass.).

Sophomore setter Maria Kuehl (Middleton, N.H.) tallied 39 assists on the day, and dug out a team-best 21 attacked balls. Senior Abby Davis (Somersworth, N.H.), junior Jackie Stone (Saginaw, Mich.), and sophomore Kirsta Adie (Tyngsboro, Mass.) combined for 31 digs.

Big Blue's lone contest with Western New England during the season was back on September 17, resulting in a 3-1 win for the Golden Bears in Springfield.