Box Score

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The University of New England women's volleyball team saw a two-set advantage disappear against Maine Maritime Academy on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 8) at the Harold Alfond Forum, only to battle through a 21-19 outcome in the 5th frame for a 3-2 victory. The scores in sets one through four were 25-17, 25-19, 22-25, and 18-25.

The Nor'easters led 7-4 in the final stanza before surrendering six unanswered points to fall behind. Four straight MMA errors put UNE back in front, and the hosts had five match-points in the moments that followed but still could not close out the Mariners. Maine Maritime's Gillian O'Neal then notched her sixth kill of the set, and a Big Blue error gave the visitors a match point at 19-18, but the next three points went for UNE -- capped by a kill from Maddy Blake and an ace by Kristen Falcinelli.

Erika Sawicki led UNE with 12 kills, as Blake and Rene Roggenbuck supported with nine apiece. Roggenbuck added 3.5 points in blocks, while Blake also registered 13 digs. Falcinelli totaled a double-double of 37 assists and 13 digs, and Grayson Szczepaniak put down five points worth of blocks. Defensively, Nikki Mathewson and Brittany Morrison had 14 and 10 digs, respectively.

O'Neal dialed up a match-best 18 winners to go with 14 digs for MMA. Tess Clark ended with eight kills, 11 digs, and two blocks. Sydney Adams reached double figures in both assists (25) and digs (11), and Melissa Spaulding helped guide the Mariner attack with 15 assists. Maria Perez topped the contest with 15 digs and four aces.

Big Blue utilized a timely run in each of the first two sets (12-3 in the 1st to go up 18-8; 7-2 in the 2nd for a 21-14 spread) to get out ahead in the match. A 10-2 stretch early in the 3rd -- which featured four kills by Roggenbuck -- rallied UNE to a one-point edge (13-12). After trading mini runs, Maine Maritime posted seven of the last nine points to prevent the sweep.

The Mariners booked a 6-1 span in the 4th to take a 19-13 lead on the way to leveling the match at 2-all, setting up a 5th session that eventually featured 12 ties.

UNE (11-7) resumes Commonwealth Coast Conference action on Tuesday (7 p.m.) with a home date against Wentworth Institute of Technology. MMA (13-6) will entertain Unity College on Wednesday.


Earlier in the day: UNE 3, Southern Maine 2