KEENE, N.H. 10/5/10 –  The Keene State College women's volleyball team won a wild five-game 3-2 Little East Conference match against rival Plymouth State University at Spaulding Gym on Tuesday night.

With the win, Keene State improves to 12-8 and remains undefeated (3-0) in LEC play. Plymouth State (11-8, 2-1 LEC) suffered its first conference loss and saw its three match winning streak come to an end.

Falling behind 12-17, the Owls rallied to win the first game 25-23.  Junior Bridget O'Bryant (Merrimack, N.H.) scored the final two points for KSC on cross-court kills.

The Panthers took a 17-7 lead on the way to taking the second game 25-14.

Keene State went up 14-6 and held on for a 25-21 win in the third game.

Plymouth State won a back-and-forth fourth game 25-22. 

Keene State won the decisive fifth game 16-14.  Trailing 13-14, the Owls scored the final three points of the match on a pair of service aces by senior Jamie Levine (Medfield, Mass.) sandwiched around a PSU attack error. "I don't really get to nervous when I serve" Levine said.  "I though the last one was going out, so I was happy when they called it in."

"It was a crazy match," said O'Bryant, who led the Owls with 19 kills. "We pushed points and they pushed points and it was just a matter of who wanted it more and I think we wanted it more."

Both teams fought through injures in the nail-biting match.  In the fourth game, PSU lost freshman middle hitter Kaitlyn Tedeschi (Pascoag, R.I.)  while Owl junior setter Laurie Whalen (Niantic, Conn.) suffered a hand injury, but was able to return to the court.  "We took advantage of the match-ups that we got," said KSC Coach Bob Weiner. "That was huge."

Kristen Girard (Red Hook, N.Y.)  was Keene State's go-to player when they needed a big point. The outside hitter finished with 16 kills to go with a couple of service aces and 12 digs.   "Kristen is our graphic design major and she's an artist. She gets it done," said Weiner. 

"They don't score matches on beauty. They score them who won it in the end," said Weiner.  "That's good because we're still undefeated in the LEC."

Whalen had 43 assists and Levine finished with 13 digs for Keene State.

Sophomore outside hitter Casey Stoodley (Salem, N.H.) was a force all match for the Panthers, finishing with a game high 20 kills to go with eight service aces and 15 digs.   Senior setter Sarah Cady (Holliston, Mass.) had 41 assists and junior Danielle Stoodley (Salem, N.H.) chipped in with 18 digs.

Keene State players wore pink uniforms for the match.  They were holding a  Dig Pink fundraising event  with all proceeds benefiting  the Side-Out Foundation, which awards grants to medical research organizations and entities dedicated to providing compassionate support to breast cancer patients and their families.

Keene State is at Emmanuel College on Thursday. Plymouth State returns to action on Friday and Saturday when it plays in the Springfield College Tom Hay Invitational.