WALTHAM, Mass. – Senior middle blocker McKenna Buck (Renton, Wash./Holy Names Acad.) and two sophomores, Dani Milner (Plano, Texas/The Greenhill School) and Rachel Bruno (San Diego, Calif./Frances Parker School), combined for 29 kills and a .431 hitting percentage, as Bentley University swept past Franklin Pierce University in three sets in Northeast-10 Conference women's basketball Tuesday night at the Dana Center.

Milner put up her eighth double-double in 11 matches, filling the stat sheet with 12 kills, 16 digs, three aces, two blocks and a .385 accuracy rate. Buck hit an even .500 with nine kills and four blocks, and Bruno finished with eight kills, two blocks and a .438 hitting percentage.

The 25-20, 25-17, 25-6 victory in its conference opener lifted Bentley to 7-4 overall. Meanwhile, Franklin Pierce slipped to 1-1 NE10 and 4-8 overall.

Each of the sets featured at least one Bentley run. After trailing by one a couple times in the first, the Falcons used a 13-3 burst to go up 15-6. Four of those points came on kills from senior co-captain Shannon Kelly (Hyde Park, N.Y./ Franklin D. Roosevelt HS).

In the second, Bentley extended a one-point advantage to 21-13 with a 12-3 spurt. Milner played a key role with two kills and two blocks during that stretch. Later, she had back-to-back aces during a set-ending 4-1 spurt.

A 13-1 explosion in the fourth made it 15-3 and the Falcons cruised to the convincing win, picking up the final six points. Sophomore Mari Boyer (Arvada, Colo./Bloomfield HS) chipped in during  the strong close with two kills and a block assist.

Junior Krista Campbell (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North HS) and sophomore Xio Lopp (Kalispell, Mont./Flathead HS) shared the setting duties for Bentley with Campbell making 27 in the first two sets and Lopp 14 in the third.

Bentley will be back in action Thursday with a non-conference match against American International (6 pm).