BOSTON – The Suffolk volleyball team slipped in straight sets to UMass Dartmouth Tuesday night at Regan Gymnasium. The Corsairs took the non-conference set by scores of 25-16, 33-31 and 25-10.

Chidera Nwankwo led the way for the Rams (3-7) with seven kills, while Jane Buckley added six. Liz Kerek and Caitlin Mockler had eight and six assists, respectively. Kerek also helped out defensively with 11 digs with Bridget Allison and Rachel Fancy chipping in 10 apiece.

The Corsairs (6-7) received strong performances from Megan Ronaghan (8) and Jasmine Burris (7), notching 15 kills between them. Eliza Bowes added eight aces.

Suffolk got off to an early 6-2 lead that blossomed to a 10-6 edge, before UMass turned on its engines and knotted the set at 10-10. From there, the Crosairs outscored the Rams, 7-2 to pull ahead 17-12, before taking the set 25-16 off ace by Bowes.

In a second stanza thriller, Suffolk used a 10-1 stretch to hold a 21-11 advantage. Dartmouth rebounded and rattled off 10 answered points to level the frame at 21-all. Bonny Ducharme signaled for a timeout and the Rams came out firing, scoring three straight, but the tallies were answered by an identical run to tie it up at 24-24. A see-saw affair ensued before UMass put together back-to-back kills from Ronaghan and Olivia Wallett to take the set, 33-31.

The third set wall all Dartmouth, leading virtually the entire way. After a rotation error by the Rams, the Corsairs took a 9-4 lead and never looked back as their advantage ballooned to 16-8, before winning by a final of 25-10.

The Rams look to bounce back as they take on Westfield State and Framingham State in a road tri-match in Framingham on Saturday, Sept. 26.

The Rams look to bounce back as they take on Westfield State and Framingham State in a road tri-match on Saturday Sept. 26.