BOSTON, MASS. 11/10/13 – Second seed Keene State College came up short in its bid to win the Little East Conference women's volleyball championship, falling to top seed UMass-Boston 3-1 (14-25, 25-23, 23-25, and 9-25) in the tournament finals Sunday afternoon at the Clark Athletic Center Gymnasium.

The Owls (20-13), who were making their fifth overall and second consecutive trip to the finals, were looking for their first title since 2008. 

"The third game fried us.  It's tough for a young team to do this, but we had a terrific year," said KSC Coach Bob Weiner.  "The kids played great.  They gave us everything they had and in this particular case we needed a little bit more."  

UMass-Boston (21-15) won their fifth straight Little East Conference tournament and secures an automatic bid to the 2013 NCAA Division III tournament.

In the opening game, the Beacons came out firing as they jumped out to a 17-4 lead to start of Sunday's championship match.  The Beacons were hitting all their spots while also keeping the Owls off balance with a variety of serves.

Keene State did manage to claw back into the match, but it was too little too late as the Beacons cruised to a 25-14 decision.  However the momentum quickly shifted to the Owls in the second game as they took advantage of some early errors by UMB.  They would eventually double-up the Beacons on the scoreboard (16-8), but the early lead did not last as the Beacons came storming back.  UMB would go on a 9-4 run to cut the huge Keene State deficit down to three (20-17).  The Owls did manage another strong push to move within two points of clinching the game. 

Not ready to give-up and move onto the third game, the Beacons fought back yet again this time rattling off five straight points to make it 23-22.  Keene State moved into game point (24-22) with a kill by Madeline Nossiff Portsmouth, N.H.).  The Beacons then made it a one point game on a kill by Patsy Boland (24-23).  Unfortunately the game would go to the Owls on a Nossiff kill that landed between two Beacons players.

The third game was a back-and-forth exchange from start to finish with neither earning a lead larger than two points.  Both teams were nearly identical offensively with Keene scoring 14 kills as compared to UMB's 13.  The turning point of the game came when UMB and Keene were deadlocked at 19-19.  The Beacons scored back-to-back kills from Porter and Julia Murphy (Canton, Mass.) to make it 21-19.  Keene did manage to tie the game with a quick two score run.  The two squads then exchanged points to make it 22-22.  Keene State regained the lead on a kill by Samantha Branning (Glastonbury, Conn.). 

Following a Beacons timeout, UMass tied the match at 23 all on another clutch kill from Boland.  UMB then took a 24-23 lead on a Keene State attack error.  The game-winning point was the result of a Bri Sousa (Swansea, Mass.) and Boland block to put UMB up two games to one.

The dramatic ending to the third game clearly took the wind out of the Owls sails as UMB just cruised in the fourth game.  After a quick exchange in the beginning of the fourth, the Beacons would go on one of their biggest runs of the year to defeat Keene State 25-9.

"We've had the problem throughout the season," said sophomore Kaitlin Boyer. "Sometimes we're able to get back up, but unfortunately we weren't able to do that in this match." 

"We were trying really hard, but when they got on a run it sets us back" said sophomore Angela Silveri (Poughquog, N.Y.).  "We wanted it a lot, but we just came up short.  We put our hearts out there."   

"UMass-Boston is a great team, but we proved we can beat them, said Nossiff. "The physical aspect isn't the problem. I think it's more mental. Sometime you hit a barrier and it's a lot stronger than you think." 

For the Owls, sophomore Silveri combined for 13 kills, followed by Nossiff who had nine.  Alexis Michael (Windham, N.H.) tallied 22 assists and had nine digs. Sammy Dormio (Leesburg, Va.) and Boyer) each recorded a team-best 16 digs. 

Most Outstanding Player Patsy Boland and Corrine Porter each had 13 kills to lead the Beacons. Setter Megan Pollock tallied a match-high 45 assists and finished with 11 digs and a pair of aces.  Murphy was the third Beacon to finish in double-figures as she scored 11 kills and a match-high .429 hitting percentage.

With no seniors on its roster, KSC hopes to get another shot at the championship next year.  "We know we have a great team and a great set of girls here," said Nossiff.  "We're excited to get this far, but we couldn't do it this time.  Hopefully, we'll do it next year."