AMHERST, Mass. – After a pair of wins to start the match, volleyball had to bounce back after dropping the third set to earn a 3-1 win over host Amherst College Saturday afternoon at LeFrak Gymnasium in the final match of the Hall of Fame Invitational.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 3, Amherst College 1

UMass Boston (22-3)
Amherst College (14-7)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Look as if they were going to walk away with a three set win, following a pair of 25-19 wins, the Beacons found themselves up against a wall, as they played their worst set of the weekend, which resulted in a 25-14 win for Amherst.  In the fourth set, the Beacons still could not find their rhythm as they battled back-and-forth with the Purple and White.  Even at 25-25, the Beacons managed to rattle off back-to-back points to earn the 27-25 win and the match.

The Beacons took their final lead of the afternoon on a Julia Murphy (Canton, Mass.) kill which made it 26-25.  The deciding point of the afternoon also came from Murphy, who had a tremendous weekend for the Beacons, as they look to climb the regional rankings with just one week left in the regular season.

The Canton native, finished the match with 12 kills and hit .333.  Eileen Shi (San Francisco, Calif.) had her best match of the weekend, scoring 17 kills, while also coming up with 20 digs, both of which were season-highs for the sophomore. 

Elizabeth Glavan (Edina, Minn.) continued her consistent play tallying 32 digs in the huge weekend for the Beacons.  The All-American libero also had a pair of aces in Saturday's finale.

Rachel Maslach (Berlin Center, Ohio) had another strong game at the setter position tallying 23 assists in the victory.  Pepper Baker (Tallahassee, Fla.) finished with 17 helpers, and also had two kills and one dig. 

Sarah Doyle (Glendale, Calif.) led the Beacons at the net, with her career-best nine block assists, while Melanie Fyda (Park Ridge, Ill.) finished with one solo block and six block assists.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Overall the Beacons combined for 12 total blocks (1 bs, 22 ba) in the victory
• UMass Boston outhit Amherst .197 to .176
• All-time the Beacons are 1-1 against Amherst
• With the sweep, UMass Boston has now won a season-best nine straight matches
• UMass Boston entered the match ranked third on the first NCAA Regional Poll

WHO'S NEXT

The Beacons will host Southern Maine on Tuesday at 6 p.m. on senior day.