WESTON, Mass. – The Regis (Mass.) women's volleyball team played its home opener Thursday night on the newly renovated Higgins Court but it came in a loss as the Pride fell in four sets to the University of New England. Set scores were 14-25, 25-19, 25-13, 26-24.

Kayla Nystedt (Onamia, Minn.) led the Pride with 11 kills and hit at an impressive .600 clip. Caroline Fuentes (Downey, Calif.) and Dylan Godfrey (Wellington, Fla.) both had a team-high six digs with Rachel Bartels (Edinburg, Texas) tallying three blocks.

Katie Flynn (Merrimack, N.H.) led all hitters with 11 kills for UNE (5-4) with Kristen Falcinelli (Silver Spring, Md.) adding 31 assists. As a team the Nor'easters hit .302.

Despite the loss, the Pride (0-6) nearly pushed the match to a fifth set. Regis fell behind 19-14 off block assists from Falcinelli and Renee Roggenbuck (Goffstown, N.H.). Then on the heels of a Haley Schulte (Fullerton, Calif.) ace and block assists from Bartels and Sydney Trusty (Durham, Conn.), reeled off four straight points to shave the lead to 22-21. Then after a Katryna Veasey (Quincy, Mass.) kill and a UNE attacking error the set was tied at 24-24. The Pride would be unable to complete the comeback however, giving up the next two points and taking the loss.

Regis dominated the opening set, racing off to an early lead which later swelled to 17-8. The Pride would cruise to the opening set win and looked prime to grab its first victory of the season.

UNE had other ideas however and won the next two sets convincingly. The Nor'easters led big in set two before a Regis run cut the lead to 23-19. UNE held on to even the match then dominated set three to grab the lead. Three straight UNE aces extended the lead to 17-9 then a pair of Pride rotation errors made it a 19-10 score.

UNE next plays at Endicott on Wednesday, Sept. 21 (7:00 p.m.) while the Pride play a tri-match this Saturday, Sept. 17 against Rivier (11:00 a.m.) and Colby (1:00 p.m.).

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