Box Score

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Senior Paige Curran (Chelsmford, Mass.) registered 12 kills and junior Angie Brunette (North Andover, Mass.) added seven to help the University of New England women's volleyball squad to a 3-0 victory in the season-opener with Clark University Saturday morning (Sep. 1) at the Campus Center. The set scores were 25-22, 25-16, and 25-22.

Junior Maria Kuehl (Middleton, N.H.) dished out 26 assists for Big Blue (1-0), which also put down six combined blocks. Brunette had four blocking assists to lead the way. Junior Kirsta Adie (Tyngsboro, Mass.) picked up a match-best eight digs.

For the Cougars (0-1), sophomores Savonnah Rowe (New York, N.Y.) and Mel Conde (Union City, Calif.) tallied eight kills apiece. Junior Rachel Spera (North Hollywood, Calif.) helped support the attack with 19 assists.

The first set saw Clark reel off seven unanswered points to break a 9-9 tie and assume a 16-9 advantage. After UNE trimmed the deficit to one (19-18), the next three points went to the visitors -- but that would be it for the frame. The Nor'easters closed with a 7-0 run of its own to take the opening stanza.

UNE broke away from a 12-12 battle in the second to win by nine, then clawed through a back-and-forth series of points to take the edge in the third.