Salve Regina wins 2014 ECAC women's volleyball championship

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - After reaching a final for the second consecutive Saturday, Salve Regina University women's volleyball produced a championship with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-14) victory over fourth-seeded Endicott College in the title match of the 2014 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) New England Women's Volleyball Championships. It marked the first championship, and first final, for the Seahawks in four straight trips to the ECACs.

Salve Regina (23-10) swept three matches in nine sets for the week. The second-seeded Seahawks defeated seventh-seeded MCLA on Wednesday, 3-0, before traveling to host and top-seed Western New England University today for semifinal and final matches.

Endicott (18-17) upset the Golden Bears in five sets, a similar heart-breaking outcome that Western New England experienced nine days earlier in its Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) semifinal defeat against Salve Regina.

After the Gulls' semifinal victory, Salve Regina knocked off third-seeded Worcester State University, 3-0 (25-14, 26-24, 25-16), in its semifinal match. 

After failing to capture the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) volleyball championship the Seahawks came into Saturday's matches with a chip on their shoulder.

"We knew we were the best team there and we played like it," said head coach Lauren Parsons.

To win the championship Salve Regina would have to win two matches within a couple of hours of each other, playing the first match at 1:30 p.m. and the second at 3:30 p.m. Coach Parsons thought the back to back matches actually helped her team.

"Playing against Worcester State in the semis prepared us for the finals and it was actually better to play back to back because we didn't have a chance to get cold and have to warm-up again," said Parsons.

Going into the Endicott match the Seahawks knew it was going to be a battle and fought hard to win in three sets. 

"The team really stepped up and never let up at any point in the final match," Parsons said. "Not to have dropped a set in the ECAC tourney really showed how far we have come this season.  Where we started back in September to where we are now is night and day.  We struggled in the beginning but grew and learned from it which made us have a strong finish, and with having six seniors on this team we were experienced."

It is those seniors that Parsons was most proud of and happy for.

"To have all six seniors on the court when we won championship point was such a special moment," Parsons said.  "I'm so proud of this team and this senior class for working so hard and finishing on top."