BOSTON, Mass.—UMass Boston volleyball earned their eleventh-straight win over arch-rival Keene State with a three-set sweep, to earn their first Little East Conference victory of the season.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 3, Keene State 0

(UMass Boston 3-8, 1-1 Little East)

(Keene State College 9-4, 1-1 Little East)

HOW IT HAPPENED

UMass Boston rebounded from their first conference loss in two years with a dominating three-set victory over red-hot Keene State. The Beacons sandwiched set wins of 25-21 with a 25-16 second-set victory, to earn their second-win in the past three matches.

UMass Boston raced out to an early 10-3 lead in set one and never looked back, as the Owls were only able to cut the deficit to as few as three points. In the second set, freshman Christina Elliott (Camas, Wash.) broke a 6-6 tie with a strong-service run and the Beacons slowly opened their lead to as many as nine in the 25-16 win.

The third set proved to be the tightest set by far, as Keene State fought to keep their four-match winning streak alive. The two teams traded 11 ties, before Elliott's service run once again put the Beacons in the lead. Elliott opened her run with a service ace to tie the set at 19-19 and then the Beacons tacked on a second point on a bad set by the owls. After an Owls timeout, Elliott added her fifth service ace of the day and Julia Murphy (Canton, Mass.) tacked on a kill to push the lead to 22-19. Keene State would eventually earn the side out, but two kills by Eileen Shi (San Francisco, Calif.) and a Keene State attack error would earn the Beacons the sweep.

Elliott finished the match with a team-high five aces and zero errors and added six assists and three digs in limited playing time. Shi paced the offensive attack with a career-high 15 kills and a team-best .375 hitting percentage. Murphy tacked on seven kills and tied with Bri Sousa (Swansea, Mass.) for the match-high with three solo blocks.

Juniors Pepper Baker (Tallahassee, Fla.) and Elizabeth Glavan (Edina, Minn.) led the Beacons with 24 assists and 19 digs respectively.

Keene State sophomore Rachel Lamica posted a team-high six kills, while Brooke Bell notched 10 assists and Angela Silveri chipped in with 11 digs.

BY THE NUMBERS

• With the victory, UMass Boston improved to 13-12 all-time against the Owls  
• The three-set win was just the fourth all-time for the Beacons over the Owls, and the first since 2011
• UMass Boston and Keene State have combined to win six of the past seven Little East Conference Titles
• Despite the teams coming in as the top two teams in the Little East in blocks per set, UMass Boston earned a 9-3 advantage in total blocks
• UMass Boston's seven solo blocks were a new season-high
• The Beacons have won eight-straight Little East Conference home openers

WHO'S NEXT

UMass Boston will play a trio of New England powers next week, starting with a road trip to Tufts University Thursday at 7 p.m. From there, UMass Boston will host Wellesley College Friday at 6 p.m. and travel to Babson College for a Saturday matinee at 1 p.m.