DANBURY, CONN.  10/9/12 – The Keene State College women's volleyball team suffered its first Little East Conference loss of the season, falling to Western Conn. State University 3-1 at Feldman Arena on Tuesday night.

            Keene State (12-11, 3-1 LEC) saw its three match winning streak come to an end.  Western Conn. (12-10, 4-0 LEC) is tied with three-time defending champ UMass-Boston for the top spot in the LEC standings. 

            Keene State won the first game 25-21 and led the second game 20-16 before the Colonials caught then and went on to take the game 26-24.  WSCU won the finals two games 25-19 and 25-17.  In the fourth and deciding set, the Owls jumped out to 10-8 lead before sophomore Nina Wojtkiewicz (Griswold, CT) rattled off nine straight service points to give Western a comfortable 17-10 lead.

            "We never recovered once they caught us in the second game," said KSC Coach Bob Weiner.  "We played young at times in the match."

            Sophomore Samantha Branning (Glastonbury, CT) led the KSC attackers with 11 kills, closely followed by freshman Kaylee Deluga (Barnstable, MA) and freshman Angela Silveri (Poughquag, NY) who put away 10 and nine kills, respectively. Sophomore Sammy Dormio (Leesburg, VA) registered a game-high 30 digs. In the middle, freshmen Haley Willumsen (Shelter Island, NY) and Alexis Michal (Windham, NH) dished out 25 and 23 dimes, respectively for the Owls.

           Paxton Thornton (Sharon, CT) and Melanie Lombardi (Danbury, CT) gave the Colonials a presence at the net as they registered 16 and nine kills, respectively. Sophomore Jenny Hogan (Franklin Square, NY) patrolled the offense and dished out a game-high 38 assists on the night.

            Keene State hosts Mount Holyoke College and Smith College on Saturday.