Box Score

Postgame interview with Ken Nichols (YouTube.com)

Postgame interview with Nicole Bishop (YouTube.com)

The Northeastern women's volleyball team closed out its non-conference slate by winning the New England Classic, sweeping Connecticut 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-14) on Saturday night at Solomon Court.

NU (11-3, 0-0 CAA) was led by junior Kelly Bacon's 12 kills, and it was the ninth in thirteen games that Bacon has led the squad in kills. She had a double-double in the game and she also contributed 10 digs. Junior captain Janelle Tucker posted 11 kills, and she also tallied eight digs. Sophomore Jillian Briner led Northeastern in assists with 21, while junior Ina Kamenova was close behind with 18. Sophomore libero Natalia Skiba led NU with 12 digs, and senior Nicole Bishop registered a team-high four blocks.

UConn (8-6, 0-0 Big East) had six kills from senior Mattison Quayle, and five apiece from freshman Erika Thomas and sophomore Devon Maugle. Freshman Marissa Prinzbach managed to record an assist on 18 of Connecticut's 23 kills in the game.

Northeastern out-killed Connecticut, 46-23, with a .340 attack percentage as a team. NU was able to record a dig on 43 of 83 UConn attacks, and Northeastern also had an assist on 45 of their 46 kills. Both teams recorded five blocks in the game.

The first set started back-and-forth, with the two teams tied 8-8. Northeastern then had three straight attacking errors to give Connecticut an 11-8 edge. NU battled back to tie the match 12-12, and took its first lead of the set at 13-12. Northeastern slowly built up the lead, taking 12 of the next 19 points to win the set 25-19. Tucker's team-high fifth kill of the set clinched it for NU.

Briner did a little bit of everything in the first set, recording three kills, six assists, two service aces and two digs. Kamenova led the team with eight assists, and Skiba had a team-high five digs. Bishop had two blocks in the set. UConn's Prinzbach had eight assists in the set to lead the team, and tied for the team lead in digs with three.

After Northeastern jumped out to a 14-5 second-set advantage, Connecticut went on a 4-0 run to bring the score to 14-9. Kills from Tucker and junior Nichole Kurz pushed the lead to seven, 16-9. UConn took a timeout when NU held a 21-13 lead, but that could not swing the momentum, and Northeastern took the second set 25-17 on a Briner kill.

Bacon paced NU with six kills in the second set, along with an ace and three digs. Briner added nine assists in the second set, and Kamenova had six. Skiba had six digs in the second set, which was more than any UConn player had in the first two sets combined. Northeastern was much more efficient than its counterparts in the set, as they had a .333 attack percentage to Connecticut's .069. UConn junior Jackie Wattles was a force defensively, with four blocks in the second set.

Kills from Kurz, Briner and Bacon, combined with two Connecticut attacking errors, gave Northeastern a 5-0 lead to open the third set. UConn came within three points at 8-5, but another 5-0 NU run pushed the lead to 13-5. Northeastern didn't look back and kept a comfortable lead the remainder of the set, prevailing 25-14. Tucker closed the match with her eleventh kill of the game.

Bacon led Northeastern again in the third set with five kills. As a team, NU had 15 kills against just two errors in the third frame. Briner had a team-high eight assists, and Tucker led Northeastern with four third-set digs.

NU will return to action when it opens up its CAA schedule against Hofstra on Saturday, Sept. 22 at Solomon Court. Game time is set for 7 p.m., and fans unable to make the game can watch live streaming video and get live stats at GoNU.com/GoNUxstream. A replay of tonight's game against UConn can be viewed anytime at GoNU.com/GoNUxstream.

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All New England Classic Tournament Team
• MVP - Kelly Bacon (Northeastern)
• Northeastern - Nicole Bishop
• Northeastern - Nichole Kurz
• Harvard – Kristen Casey
• Connecticut - Erika Thomas
• Connecticut - Marissa Prinzbach
• Boston College - Courtney Castle