Information Provided By New Haven Sports Information


PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. - The University of New Haven women's volleyball team defeated Merrimack College 3-2 (18-25, 25-13, 19-25, 25-23, 15-10) Saturday night to capture the 2008 Northeast-10 Conference Championship. With the win the Chargers improve to 28-3 on the season and earn the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship.

The Chargers, already ranked first in last week's NCAA Division II East Regional Rankings, have set themselves up to earn the opportunity to host the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball East Regional Championship tournament next week. The NCAA will announce the complete field of 64 and the hosting sites tomorrow at 10 p.m. on the selection show at www.NCAA.com.

The Warriors took the immediate lead in the opening set and cruised to the first set victory. They led by as many as nine at 20-11 and the Chargers surge later in the match came up short.

In the second set UNH took control early and never gave up the lead after scoring their third point and going up 3-2.

The third set was back-and-forth for the first half of the set until the Warriors scored four-straight to take a 20-16 lead. The teams exchanged points for the remaining part of the third set.

In the highly contested fourth set, UNH came out on top with a 25-23 victory. After being down 12-18 and 11-17, the Chargers rallied with six unanswered points to tie the score at 18. The teams played even and found themselves tied at 23 before the Chargers wrapped up the fourth set with back-to-back points.

In the fifth set the teams played to a 4-4 tie before the Chargers rattled off four straight to take the commanding 8-4 lead in the final set. The teams again exchanged points in the final part of the set before a Merrimack attack error gave UNH the clean sweep of the 2008 NE-10 Conference Championships.

Leading the way for the Chargers in the match was senior middle Rhe-Ann Niles who recorded a career-high 24 kills in the championship match. Also the nation's leader in hitting percentage, she tallied a .526 hitting percentage (24-4-38). She added 10 total blocks and four digs to her match totals.

Senior Charisse Cotton was the only other Charger to record double-figure kills in the match with 18. She added two blocks and four digs for the Chargers. Setter Yael Rosner handed out 55 assists, two away from her personal best, while also grabbing three digs and three blocks.

Katrina Ali led the UNH defense with a career-best 28 digs. Sara Mamlov, Brittani Cotton and Heather Ladao each also grabbed double-digit digs for UHN.

The biggest difference in Saturday's championship match was the Chargers ability to stop Merrimack's attack. UNH recorded 27 total blocks and cause 29 Warriors attack errors, while the Chargers recorded just 23 attack errors and were blocked just seven times.

The Chargers now wait until tomorrow night when the NCAA announces the field of 64 for the Division II Women's Volleyball Championship tournament which starts next week. To watch the announcement live visit www.NCAA.com.

2008 Northeast-10 All-Championship Team

Keziah Kashouh, American International
Kristine Michelson, Bentley
Karissa Hookstadt, Franklin Pierce
Kristen Cobb, Le Moyne
Allie Eide, UMass Lowell
Ale Kuncaitis, Merrimack
Rhe-Ann Niles and Yael Rosner, New Haven
Andrea Wirth, Stonehill
Championship MVP - Rhe-Ann Niles, New Haven