BOX SCORE WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The top-seeded University of New Haven women’s volleyball team swept visiting Dominican, 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-16) , to advance on Thursday afternoon in the NCAA East Region Championship hosted at Charger Gymnasium in West Haven.
 
The victory was the 25th-straight win for New Haven – the Northeast-10 Conference Champion – to improve the best record in Division II to 28-1. Central Athletic Collegiate Conference Champion Dominican ends its season in the quarterfinal round at 26-8.
 
Keidy Candelaria and Amber Cannady shared the team high with nine kills apiece. Candelaria hit .348 and added 10 digs and five assists, while Cannady had an assist, six digs and a block. Kristy Atufunwa added eight kills and had a hand in six of New Haven’s six blocks. Kristen Lee contributed six finishers and Ashley Dalton notched three.
 
Kaulana Ane distributed 26 assists with six kills of her own and completed a double-double with 10 digs. Collectively, New Haven hit .284 (41-12-102).
 
Defensively, Kea-Marie Olaso had a team-best 13 digs from the libero spot. She was joined in double figures by 10 digs each from Ane, Candelaria and Lee. At the net, Atufunwa’s six blocks led all players, while Dalton was a part of three rejections as the New Haven Chargers limited the Dominican Chargers to a cumulative hitting percentage of .049 (28-22-122).
 
Olaso landed all three of New Haven’s service aces.
 
Dominican was led by a match-best 10 kills from Tori Dexter, 20 assists by Whitney Ranger and 19 digs from Jordyn Fuller.
 
New Haven will meet the winner of tonight’s match between fourth-seed NYIT and fifth-seed Franklin Pierce, which begins at Charger Gym at approximately 7:30 p.m. The first semifinal pits second-seed Bridgeport against third-seed Adelphi. For complete information on the 2012 NCAA Division II East Region Championship, visit NewHavenChargers.com/NCAAVolleyball.