Box Score

BRISTOL, R.I. -- Seventh-seeded University of New England pulled a 3-1 upset victory over No. 2 Roger Williams University in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Women's Volleyball Championship on Tuesday evening (Nov. 1) at the Campus Rec Center. Set scores were 25-21, 22-25, 25-23, and 27-25.

The Nor'easters (14-12) advance to face third-seeded Western New England University (a 3-0 winner over Gordon College) on Thursday night (7 p.m.). With the win, UNE ends a 15-match losing streak to the Hawks (19-8), who swept Big Blue just last week and were the seven-time reigning champions of the tournament.

It will be UNE's first appearance in the league semifinals since 2010, and the third trip since the program joined the conference in 1999.

The Nor'easters were led by Grayson Szczepaniak with 12 kills, two aces, and five block assists. Maddy Blake contributed 11 winners, and Rene Roggenbuck went for 10 kills and a pair of solo blocks. With 19 digs, Blake registered a double-double, as did Kristen Falcinelli, who totaled 38 assists and 18 digs. The back line was anchored by Nikki Mathewson, who posted 22 digs.

Roger Williams received 11 kills and 14.5 points from Molly Quilty (CCC 1st Team). Grace Kenningham added eight kills for the offense, which was set-up by Emiley Melillo and Julia Fields (CCC 2nd Team) with 17 and 16 assists, respectively. Maria Batas racked up 27 digs on the defensive side of the action.

Other than a brief period early in the the 2nd set when the Hawks once gained a lead of six (and five 6 times in a 12-point span), neither side held an advantage of more than four points the entire contest.

In the opening frame, RWU used a string of five to go up 14-12, however lost the edge on six in-a-row by UNE (19-16). The hosts pulled back within one at 22-21, but two errors sandwiched a kill from Blake to put the Nor'easters on top (25-21).

Roger Williams started the ensuing stanza strong, and led 15-9 before Big Blue rallied a bit. It was 21-20 until three errors down the stretch leveled the scoreboard at 1-all (25-22).

For just one instance (UNE 17-13), four points separated the teams in the 3rd. The Hawks countered with five straight (18-17), and it was 21-19 prior to a UNE surge. Blocks by Falcinelli and Roggenbuck preceded two RWU errors, and then Roggenbuck established set-point (24-21) with a kill. Kenningham and a Big Blue mishap made things interesting prior to Katie Flynn finishing off the session for the visitors (25-23).

Play became even tighter in the 4th, as the difference peaked at three points on just three occasions (UNE 4-1, RWU 10-7, RWU 12-9). Kenningham kept Roger Williams alive with a kill to make 24-all, and a UNE error let the Hawks extend it to 25-all, before Szczepaniak and Falcinelli paired for a block and Flynn slammed down another kill to seal the result (27-25).

For the match, the Nor'easters limited two of RWU's four all-conference performers -- Kristen Boyer (CCC 1st Team) and Cassandra Monique (CCC 2nd Team) -- to a combined 14 points with a -.029 hitting clip over 70 swings.