DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Less than four days after securing the final spot in the Little East Conference Tournament, volleyball showed that they are ready to defend their title as they knocked-off the third-seeded Corsairs of UMass Dartmouth by the final of 3-2 Tuesday evening.
 
THE BASICS
 
#6 UMass Boston 3, #3 UMass Dartmouth 2
 
UMass Boston (7-17)
UMass Dartmouth (19-8)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
With the win the Beacons advance to Thursday's semi-final match, where they will face the second-seed Keene State College Owls at 7 p.m. in Keene, NH.
 
No stranger to pulling off the upset especially in the LEC Tournament, the Beacons rallied from a tough first set loss (25-16). They then grinded-out a 25-21 win in the second, before taking a slim 2-1 lead with a 25-14 win in the third.
 
The Corsairs managed to crawl back into the match and force the fifth set with a 25-18 win. Despite the setback, the Beacons caught their second wind, and blew past their intra-state rival to secure the huge 15-7 win.
 
McKayla Geraghty had one of the best matches of her college career scoring a team-leading 13 kills, while posting a .333 hitting percentage. Amelia Devlin, was also impressive as she not only quarterbacked the offense with 29 assists, but the freshman also put down five kills (.556 hitting percentage).
 
At the net the Beacons had one of their best team performances scoring seven block solos and 14 block assists.
 
Senior Taryn Broughal was the driving force behind the Beacons block party as she notched three solo stops, while sharing a block five times.
 
In the back row Ally Dean anchored the Beacons with her 20 digs.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
 

• All-time the Beacons are now 17-23 against UMass Dartmouth
• Tuesday's match marked the first time that UMass Boston and UMass Dartmouth have faced each other in the first round of the LEC Tournament
• Tuesday's win was the Beacons first-ever conference tournament win at UMass Dartmouth
• The Beacons currently hold 10 LEC Championships in the program history, and are the reigning LEC champions
• UMass Boston is advancing to the LEC semi-final round for the 13^th time in the last 14 seasons not counting the 2020 season which was canceled due to COVID

 
WHO'S NEXT
 
The Beacons will travel to Keene State College on Thursday for a 7 p.m. match. Winner of that match will advance to Saturday's championship match.