QUINCY, MASS. 11/3/12 – The third seeded Keene State College women's volleyball team upset second seed Western Conn. State 3-1 in a Little East Conference tournament semifinal match at Quincy (Mass.) High School on Saturday.

Keene State (19-15) moves on the finals on Sunday (12 p.m.) where they will go up against top seed and three-time LEC champion UMass-Boston (16-11).  The Beacons advanced to the championship match with a 3-0 victory over fifth seed Rhode Island College.  The Colonials fall to 18-13.

The Owls, who won their lone LEC title in 2008, will be making their fourth trip to the finals under Coach Bob Weiner.

The match didn't get off to a good start for the Owls, who dropped the first game 25-18.

The turning point of the match came in the second set when Keene State turned a 20-17 deficit into a 23-21 lead.  "I kept reminding them that they weren't playing with enough intensity and had to do more," said Weiner.  "And they did." 

Falling behind again 24-23, KSC reeled off the final three points to win the game 26-24.  Freshman Angela Silveri (Poughquag, N.Y.) got the final point on a kill.

Keene State jumped out to a 14-5 lead on the way to winning the third game 25-15.  "Winning the close second game and coming out and getting a big lead in the third game was a nice way to start," said Weiner. 

The Owls opened up a 12-5 lead in the fourth game on to see the Colonials come back and get to within one point (16-15) on a ball-handling error. Keene State regrouped to the game 25-19.

Weiner lauded the play of freshman Kaylee Deluga (Dennis, Mass.) in the match.  "She got some big points for us," said Weiner. "We recently changed her position and she helped us in other ways with her blocking and serving."

Sophomore Sammy Dormio (Leesburg, Va.) led the Owls with a career high 21 kills, three assists, three service aces and 12 digs.  Silveri had 12 kills and nine digs, and freshman Kaitlin Boyer (West Greenwich, R.I.) finished with 21 digs.  Freshman setter Alexis Michal (Windham, Mass.) had a fine overall game with 44 assists and 11 digs.

Senior Paxton Thornton led Western Conn. with 19 kills and 11 digs.

"There's no doubt we have a tremendous amount of talent," said Weiner.  "The fact that they are coming together late in the season is great.  I couldn't be happier for them.

Weiner knows the Owls will have their hands full trying to beat a talented UMass-Boston team.  "They don't have the credentials this year to get an automatic bid, so they're going to be fighting hard," he said.  "All we can do is go out and do what we've been doing."

This will be the fourth meeting between KSC and UMB in the tournament.  In 2008, KSC defeated the Beacons 3-2 win the title.  In 2010, UMB beat the Owls 3-1 in the finals.  Last season, the Beacons defeated Keene State 3-1 in the semifinals.