CASTLETON, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton women's volleyball team won the first set against Eastern Connecticut on Monday night, but it was all Warriors from there as the Spartans fell 3-1 in Little East Conference action.
 
The contest was Castleton's annual Dig Pink match in support of the Side-Out Foundation. Funds raised from the event for Side-Out go toward research specifically for patients with metastatic breast cancer, the most advanced form of the disease, and the least funded area of research. To make a contribution to the cause, visit castletonsports.com/digpink.
 
The Spartans are now 6-12 on the season and 0-6 in LEC play, while Eastern gets back to .500 at 11-11 overall and 3-3 in league play. Eastern held a 46-27 edge in kills and an 18-7 edge in aces. Castleton amassed 51 digs in the contest and dished out 26 assists.
 
Hailey Martinovich led the Spartan attack with 13 kills and notched 12 digs for a double-double. Maddie Delsignore and Isabella Luna had a dozen digs apiece as well, and Caitlin Mahoney added seven. Delsignore dished out 23 assists and had a pair of aces on the night.
 
The Warriors raced out to a 6-1 lead in the opening set and appeared to be in control, but VTSU Castleton buckled down and battled back. Kills by Mahoney and Martinovich brought Castleton within three, 7-4, and a five-point run later in the set leveled the score at 9-9. The two sides went back-and-forth before the Spartans logged a three-point run to take a 14-12 lead, punctuated by an ace from Sheehan. Eastern called a timeout to stop the bleeding and immediately went on a 5-1 run to regain the lead, 17-15. The Spartans stayed strong, rattling off four unanswered points for a 19-17 lead thanks to three kills from Ray during the stretch. The two sides traded points once more to a 21-20 VTSU Castleton lead. The Spartans closed the set strong, taking four of the next five points to earn a 25-21 first-set victory.
 
Castleton started the second set with momentum, leading 4-1 right away. The lead grew to 8-3 after a pair of ECSU attack errors. Castleton led 11-7 before the Warriors posted a 7-0 run to take their first lead of the set, 14-11. Another five-point run later in the set turned a two-point deficit by Castleton into a 20-13 hole. Two straight points for Castleton made it 20-15, but Eastern closed out the set on top 25-16 to level the match score at 1-1.
 
The Spartans again got off to a quick start in set No. 3, leading 3-0 thanks to a kill by Kate Chapman and two aces from Delsignore. Eastern leveled the score before going on an 8-1 run to take a 13-6 lead in the middle portion of the set. A 6-0 Warrior run put the set out of reach at 20-8, but Castleton continued to battle and went on a 5-1 run to make it 23-14. Eastern took the third set 25-14 for a 2-1 lead.
 
The Warriors quickly went ahead 4-0 in the fourth frame, and led 7-1 before Martinovich logged a kill to stop Eastern's momentum. VTSU Castleton was never able to build momentum of its own in the frame, however, as the Warriors never let the Spartans score more than two unanswered points in the final set and went on to win 25-9 to close the match on top 3-1.
 
ECSU's Paige Savitsky had 11 kills while Brooke Praskievicz tallied 10 kills and a match-high 21 digs. Samantha Blanford had six aces and 14 assists for the Warriors.
 
The Spartans are back in action Wednesday night at SUNY Cobleskill for a non-conference tilt at 7 p.m.