BOX SCORE

WEST HAVEN, Conn. - The University of New Haven women's volleyball team, seeded No. 1 in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship tournament, were upset Tuesday night by the No. 8 seed UMass Lowell River Hawks, 3-1 (25-17, 24-26, 25-21, 25-20) at Charger Gymnasium. With the loss, the Chargers are eliminated from the NE-10 tournament and fall to 21-6. The River Hawks improved to 13-10 on the season and advance to take on the College of Saint Rose in the semifinals on Friday.

In the opening set, the teams went point-for-point through the first 10 points. UMass Lowell then went on an 11-4 run to take a commanding 16-9 lead off a UNH attack error. The Chargers would cut the lead to five points in the closing portion of the set, but a kill by the River Hawks' Ella Merrill gave UMass Lowell a 25-17 victory in the opening set.

The Chargers won the second set in come-from-behind fashion at Charger Gymnasium. The River Hawks opened an early 10-5 lead and the Chargers would gradually crawl back into the set. Chelsea Alpough evened the score at 16-16 with an ace later in the set. UMass Lowell led 21-17 before the Chargers took a timeout. After the timeout, UNH went on a 9-3 run to close the set and even the match at 1-1.

UMass Lowell opened the third set with a 3-1 run to take an early lead in the set. The Chargers then rallied and Amber Cannady (Yonkers, N.Y./Charles E. Gorton) evened the score at 10-10 with a kill. She continued to give the Chargers the lead as she hammered back-to-back kills later in the set to give the Chargers a 16-11 lead. With an 18-12 lead, the Chargers nearly put away the River Hawks, but UMass Lowell rallied from behind and would eventually even the set at 21-21 in the later part of the set. The River Hawks finished off the set with a 7-0 run to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

In the final set, the Rivers Hawks took a lead out of the gate and never trailed after overcoming a 1-2 deficit. UMass Lowell led 10-6 and eventually 15-12. Back-to-back aces from the River Hawks gave them a 21-15 lead, while Sierra Brown put the match away with the River Hawks final point, sealing a five-point victory, 25-20.

Junior Keidy Candelaria (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Bayamon Military Academy) led the Chargers with 21 kills, while posting a .254 hitting percentage on 63 attempts with five errors. She also grabbed 16 digs in the match. Cannady added 10 kills, but struggled hitting just .040. As a team, UNH recorded a .116 hitting percentage and 12 reception errors. Alpough handed out 37 assists in the loss.

The loss was only New Haven second loss to a Northeast-10 Conference opponent in the last four years. The only other loss to an NE-10 opponent cam in 2009 when the Chargers were upset in the opening round of the NE-10 tournament as well.

The Chargers will now wait for the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship selections to be announced on Sunday, November 13 to see where they fall in the rankings. The Chargers have been ranked No. 1 in the region for the previous two weeks.