GORHAM, Maine – Led by Julia Murphy's (Canton, Mass.) 10 kills and .474 hitting percentage, volleyball earned a huge Little East Conference victory as they blanked the Huskies of the University of Southern Maine by the final of 3-0 Tuesday evening at Hill Gymnasium.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 3, University of Southern Maine 0

UMass Boston (6-10, 3-1 Little East Conference)
University of Southern Maine (10-13, 1-3 Little East Conference)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Looking to stay atop the conference standings, the Beacons needed to earn the huge conference victory.  In the first set, the Beacons narrowly defeated the Huskies 25-23.  They would then pull out a 25-22 win to take a 2-0 lead.  With all the momentum in the favor, the Beacons pounded the Huskies in the third, as they took a 25-10 win to earn the shutout victory.

As a team the Beacons hit .229 in the conference victory, while the Huskies finished with a mere .020.  Murphy scored 10 kills on 19 attempts, and was charged with one error, as the junior hitter had another strong conference performance. 

Setter Pepper Baker (Tallahassee, Fla.) once again anchored the Beacons offense with her 26 assists, while also helping out defensively with a combined 13 digs.  Eileen Shi (San Francisco, Calif.) recorded nine kills and finished with seven digs, as she was named the conference Rookie of the Week for the second time this season on Monday.

Elizabeth Glavan (Edina, Minn.) totaled 11 digs, and also scored two of the Beacons six aces.  Defensively, UMass dominated the Huskies at the net totaling four solo blocks and 20 block assists, for a combined 14 team blocks.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Tuesday's win marked the second 3-0 conference win for the Beacons and third on the year
• As a team UMass Boston is hitting .231, they are also averaging 13.08 kills per set and 16.85 digs per set against conference opponents
• Murphy has now hit over .400 in three of her last five matches
• Pepper Baker was named the Little East Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career on Monday.

WHO'S NEXT

Volleyball returns to action on Friday when they travel to Williams College for a 7 p.m. non-conference match.