Volleyball Wins Fifth Straight, Earns Share of NEC Regular Season Crown

The Central Connecticut volleyball team capped the regular season with a 3-2 win at Robert Morris on Saturday in Northeast Conference action. With the win, Central finishes the regular season with an 18-7 overall record and 11-3 in league play.

The Blue Devils finished in a three-way tie atop the conference standings, but will be seeded third for the Northeast Conference Tournament by virtue of tie-breakers. The tournament will be held at LIU Brooklyn on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 17-18. CCSU will face Bryant in the semifinals.

Central won the match, taking sets with the scores of 25-19, 30-32, 26-28, 25-20 and 15-7. It was the fifth straight win for CCSU and 10th in the last 11 matches.

Freshman Samantha McCreath led CCSU with 17 kills and 23 digs. Sophomore Madelyn Kaprelyan had 16 kills and sophomores Morgan Woycik added 10 kills.

Sophomore Erin McDermott had 31 assists and 17 digs, while junior Kaitlyn Kushman chipped in 20 assists and 14 digs.

Senior Lindsey Massicotte had 22 digs, freshman Emma Henderson had 14 digsand senior Maddie Smith had a team-high seven total blocks.

Central led wire-to-wire in the opening set, but RMU came back to win the next two frames. In the second set, CCSU shook off an early five-point deficit to draw even at 15-15 before dropping the set. 

The Colonials would take the third set to take a lead in the match, but CCSU was able to extend the contest. The Blue Devils scored five straight early in the frame to take a lead it would not surrender as they would send the match to a decisive game.

Central raced out to a 7-0 lead in the fifth set and took control never allowing the Colonials closer than five points throughout the set.

Third-seeded CCSU will face second-seeded Bryant in the semifinals of the NEC Championship Tournament, which will be hosted by LIU Brooklyn.