Statistics

BEVERLY, Mass. -- Endicott College rallied with 14 of the final 19 points to claim a 3-2 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's volleyball result (25-19, 16-25, 25-15, 18-25, 15-10) against the University of New England at MacDonald Gymnasium on Thursday night (Oct. 26).

It was the most tightly-contested match between the teams since 2012, when UNE snagged a similar outcome. The Gulls (10-12) improve to 5-1 in league play, while the Nor'easters (12-7) -- experiencing five sets for the first time all season -- slip back to 1-4 in the CCC.

The side that won each of the first four sets never trailed along the way, and so huge shifts in momentum saw Endicott handle the 1st and 3rd sets and UNE dominate the 2nd and 4th. The only lead-change of the entire evening came in the middle of the 5th frame.

The Nor'easters jumped out to a 5-1 cushion in the deciding stanza, including a pair of kills from Viktoria Pavlyuk. Hannah Nowell notched her second kill of the set to make it 6-3, but then the hosts struck for five unanswered to go up 8-6. Hadley Helenbrook had two kills in the spurt, and shared in one of EC's two blocks.

Coming out of a timeout, Jillian Bender halted the run with a winner for UNE (8-7), but that was as close as the visitors would be the rest of the way. Megan Murphy had two kills and part of a block in the waning moments to help Endicott close things out. The Gulls hit .667 in the session (8-0-12) to go with those three blocks and one Helenbrook ace.

Helenbrook posted a team-high 18.5 points to lead Endicott, with 12 kills, five aces, and three blocks; she also had nine digs. Julia Giroux went for nine kills and 11 digs, while Stephanie Moreau put up seven kills without a miscue (.700) and factored in five of the squad's eight rejections. Haley Weiner (20 assists) and Emma Ruel (13 digs) supported the decision.

The Nor'easters were powered by Pavlyuk, who racked up a career-best 22 kills to tie for the sixth-highest single-match total in program records over the last 20-plus years. Pavlyuk is averaging 3.95 kills/set during the last six outings.

Nowell added 10 kills and Bender seven for UNE, which received a double-double of 34 assists and 12 digs, with three aces, out of Kassidy Bradshaw. Addie Miller also picked up 12 digs, and contributed eight assists along with a team-high five aces. Kendall Gallaugher had a hand in four of the team's six blocks to go with four kills.

In all, the Nor'easters had seven more kills than the Gulls on the night (51-44) and positively scored five more points (68-63), but were hampered by 10 additional errors, including seven (15-8) at the service line.

Endicott turned a 9-3 opening to the 1st into an 18-7 advantage before holding on to get out in front of the match. UNE stormed back in the 2nd with 12 kills against just two errors (.278), and a 14-11 edge ballooned into a 24-12 cushion with a 10-1 run.

Another fast start by the hosts in the 3rd (8-2) evolved into a 14-5 lead that the Nor'easters couldn't recover from, but, once again, the visitors returned the favor in the 4th. UNE got out to an 8-2 lead, slightly grew it to 17-9, and soon tossed in a 6-1 run for a slew of set points (24-12). The Nor'easters limiting EC to a match-low -.065 attack percentage in the penultimate frame; UNE's low in the contest was .087.

The Nor'easters are back on the road Saturday for a date with Roger Williams University.