BOSTON, Mass. - On Thursday night at the Clark Athletic Gym, the Beacons tamed the Lions as host UMass-Boston handed the Emerson women's volleyball team a 3-1 loss, their first defeat of the 2016 season. The Lions took set one (25-22), but fell in the next three (25-15, 25-19, 25-17). 

Emerson drops to 5-1, while UMass-Boston improves to 4-1. 

Despite UMass-Boston recording a higher hitting percentage (.233) than Emerson (.100), the Lions managed to take the opening frame by a score of 25-22. Attack errors committed by the Beacons allowed the Lions to gain an early 7-2 lead. After UMass-Boston started to inch closer to Emerson, the Lions started to pull away with the lead and gained its largest lead of nine at 20-11 on an ace from senior Amanda Linzmeyer (Huntington Beach, Calif.). With Emerson one point away from taking the set, UMass-Boston had a late surge and pulled within two at 24-22 thanks to two kills from Colleen Kohen, but senior Jules Augustine's (Skaneateles, N.Y.) kill closed out the first set. 

Both UMass-Boston and Emerson went back-and-forth through the beginning of set two, but once the Beacons  grabbed the 4-3 lead, they did not give it up. Not much went the Lions' way through the second frame for the Beacons quickly gave themselves a 12-point cushion at 20-8. Emerson began to creep its way back and got within eight, but four straight kills from the Beacons  lifted them to the 25-13 victory. 

Three lead changes occurred in the early stages of the third set, but it was UMass-Boston who gained the 7-6 lead and never looked back. Emerson, however, was not going away quietly for they remained neck-and-neck with UMass-Boston with kills from Augustine and freshman Kayleen Bertrand (New Boston, N.H.) keeping the Lions within two at 14-12. A 5-1 Beacons run allowed them to push the lead to 19-13, but the Lions followed with a 6-5 run that allowed them to come within four at 23-19. Emerson's run came a little too late for two straight UMass-Boston kills sealed the 25-19 win. 

Emerson came back to life in the start fourth frame and gained the 10-9 lead that included four kills from freshman Bella Edwards (Palisades, Calif.). After the Lions took the 10-9 lead, the Beacons bounced back on a 7-0 run that allowed them to take the 17-10 edge followed by 5-3 run to push the lead to 22-13. Augustine gave Emerson some life and tallied three consecutive kills to put the Lions within five at 22-17, but two late costly Lions errors and a kill from Eileen Shi allowed the Beacons to take the 25-17 fourth set win. 

Edwards tallied a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs while Augustine registered 12 kills. Sophomore Moira Brennan (Glenview, Ill.) had 31 helpers and seven digs and teammate Fara Cohen (Morristown, N.J.) registered 12 digs. 

Emerson returns to the court on Saturday as they travel to Springfield for a tri-match at the Western New England Invitational where they will face Elms, Western New England and Anna Maria starting at 11:00 a.m.