STANDISH — After playing five sets in back-to-back matches on Saturday, the University of New England volleyball team was looking for a much shorter match against St. Joseph’s on Monday. The Nor’easters got what they were looking for, as they swept the Monks for a 3-0, non-conference win at the Alfond Center.

UNE head coach Karol L’Heureux said she was happy to get the win in relatively short fashion, saying “we had a long weekend.”

None of the set wins came easily for the Nor’easters, however, and from the get-go it was apparent that the teams were evenly matched. The Monks jumped out to a 4-2 lead before UNE slowly gained momentum. The Nor’easters had runs of three, four and three for 10 points to win the set 25-17.

The Nor’easters never allowed the Monks to get in a rhythm in the first set, as they couldn’t score consecutive points on the serve.

“It’s important, obviously, in the game of volleyball not to give them momentum at all,” said L’Heureux. “It was kind of broken up in that first game. It was actually see-sawing back and forth.”

The Nor’easters got off to a better start in the second set, scoring four of the first five points. But again the Monks kept it close, and momentum never swung too far from the middle. Neither team strung together more than three consecutive points until UNE sandwiched two points apiece around a St. Joe’s timeout late in the set. The Nor’easters finished off the set strongly to take it with another score of 25-17.

UNE was balanced across the front line, and L’Heureux credited that to keying in on net play.

“We run a 5-1, so we got five hitters running around the front. So I think all five actually” contributed, said L’Heureux. “We spread the offense out.”

L’Heureux singled out the strong play of Jackie Stone and Jillian Goldstein as outside hitters, who she said don’t usually get as many looks as they did against the Monks.

Once St. Joe’s finally keyed in on Stone and Goldstein, the intensity picked up in the third set. The Monks gained some early momentum, determined not to bow out in straight sets on senior night, before the Nor’easters made it 9-7. After that, the play went back-and-forth again, with the Monks not allowing any separation.

Unlike the first two sets, the third set went right down to the wire. L’Heureux called her first timeout of the match at 21-19 after the Monks scored four straight points. The Nor’easters then scored the first point out of the timeout before giving up consecutive points to St. Joe’s to make it 22-21. UNE picked up a point to make it 23-21, and then the two teams played a long volley that ended up being the final nail in the Monks’ coffin. Both teams had players diving to the floor and outside the lines to win a crucial point, but it was the Nor’easters who scored their penultimate point. L’Heureux said that was huge.

“I think whenever you get a long volley, when it’s late in a set, whoever wins that, it’s hard to get off that momentum,” said L’Heureux. “I’m glad we won it. Let’s put it that way.”

The Nor’easters play another non-conference road match at the University of Southern Maine on Wednesday before closing out their conference slate and the regular season at home against Salve Regina on Saturday.

L’Heureux said she likes where the team is at heading into the final stretch of the season and into the postseason next week, when the Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament begins.

— Contact Wil Kramlich at 282-1535, Ext. 323 or follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.