Statistics

GORHAM, Maine -- Ellijah Hanley put up a match-best 15 kills as the University of New England came from behind to narrowly edge Spalding University (Ky.) by a 3-2 margin (25-18, 15-25, 23-25, 25-23, 15-13) in a neutral women's volleyball contest Saturday morning (Sep. 3) on the campus of the University of Southern Maine.

With eight of the last 11 points in the opening set, the Nor'easters (1-1) got out to an early advantage. But the Golden Eagles (0-2) comfortably took the 2nd and rallied from down as many as seven (14-7) in the 3rd to flip the cushion.

A 13-6 stretch in the middle of the 4th put UNE in position to even things up, but the Nor'easters still needed two points at 23-all to force a deciding frame. In the 5th, the teams mostly traded points until a 6-1 UNE spurt made it 14-10. The margin was trimmed back to one (14-13) when Viktoria Pavlyuk capped the effort with her eighth kill of the match.

Lauren Davenport contributed 10 kills for the winning squad, and Addie Miller notched 36 assists along with four aces. Grace Mueller supported with 8.5 points on five kills and four blocks (1 solo).

Defensively, Hanley and Miller reached double-doubles by picking up 12 and 11 digs, respectively. Morgan Lynch topped five Nor'easters in double figures with 18 digs, while Griffin Chaffin-Quiray had 14 and Reese LeMay had 11.

For Spalding, Jayda Branch amassed 14 kills and 21 digs. Abigail Ratts and Kayla Dunican combined for another 21 kills, and Ella Clark was credited with 42 assists.

UNE heads for Bridgewater State University on Tuesday.


Later in the day: Maine Maritime 3, UNE 1