Box Score

WEST HAVEN, Conn. - The University of New Haven women's volleyball team defeated Merrimack College 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-23) Tuesday night in the opening round of the 2010 Northeast-10 Conference Women's Volleyball Championship tournament at Charger Gymnasium. With the win, the top seeded Chargers advance to the NE-10 semifinals and improve to 24-2 on the season. Merrimack's season concludes with a 12-14 overall record.

As the top seed in the NE-10 tournament, the Chargers will now host the final four at Charger Gymnasium on Friday, November 12 and Saturday, November 13. New Haven will take on the fifth seeded Stonehill College Skyhawks on Friday evening at 5 p.m. The second semifinal will take place on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

The Chargers opened Tuesday's match by taking an early lead. UNH would carry that lead throughout the set, leading by as many as seven points (19-12) nearing the end of the set. After a Merrimack rallied cut the Chargers lead to four, UNH went on and sealed the opening-set victory off a kill by Sara Malmlov.

Merrimack scored the first three points of the second set and the Chargers found themselves playing catch up for most of the set. The Warriors led 11-5 in the early goings, while the Chargers took a timeout and then cut the lead to just two points, 11-9. The set stayed within three points until Merrimack went on a 3-0 run to take a 21-16 lead near the end of the set. UNH then went on an improbable 6-0 run to take a 22-21 lead late in the set. The teams then tied the score a 23-23, before UNH rattled off a pair of points to end the set at 25-23.

Played very similar to the second, the third set was the longest of the night. The teams rallied back and forth throughout most of the set, while the Warriors grabbed and early edge, leading 12-9. The Chargers rallied before taking the lead at 16-15 off a Merrimack attacking error. The Warriors then recorded a sideout and scored three straight points to take an 18-16 lead. The Chargers stayed within striking distance and eventually tied the score at 22-22 after a Merrimack error. New Haven went on and scored the final two points off Keidy Candelaria kills, sealing their 24th win of the season.

Senior Sara Malmlov led the Chargers with 17 kills and a .448 hitting percentage with only four errors on 29 attempts. Junior Elizabeth Akinbiyi added a .421 hitting percentage with 10 kills and two errors on 19 attempts. She also added five total blocks on the night. Keidy Candelaria also tallied double-digit kills with 12 in the win.

Chelsey Alpough dished out a match-high 41 assists, while Malmlov also led the UNH defense with 12 digs.

If you can't make this weekend's NE-10 Championship matches, log on to the live webcast at www.NewHavenChargers.com/Webcasting for complete match-by-match coverage. Look for complete coverage of this weekend's championship in the coming days on www.NewHavenChargers.com.