WELLESLEY, MASS. 8/31/13– The Keene State College women's volleyball team opened its season by splitting a pair of matches at the Wellesley College tri-meet on Saturday.  The Owls defeated Endicott College in a five-game come-from-behind thriller 3-2 (17-25, 25-11, 25-23, 14-25 and 15-8) before falling to the host team 3-1 (11-25, 22-25, 25-23 and 22-15).

This match between KSC and Endicott proved to be the ultimate seesaw affair.  Set one saw Endicott lead for the majority of the set and take it home with a 25-17 score.  The second set was a polar opposite as the Gulls struggled to find their rhythm and the Owls ran away with a 25-11 score.  The third set proved to be the closest as the teams battled back and forth to the very end with Keene coming out on top 25-23.  With such a young squad, the Gulls could have folded easily but the showed a great deal of resolve and battled to storm back with a 25-14 win setting up a fifth and deciding set.  The Owls proved to have more left in the tank and won the set 15-8. 

For the first match of the day, Endicott relied on strong play from the outside as they took Keene State down to the wire. 

Senior Callie Dolan (Westford, Mass.) tallied a team and match high 18 kills on 50 swings.  The outside swung at a .260 clip and also picked up two aces, seven digs and four assist blocks.  Freshman Tori McIntyre (San Diego, Calif.) had impressive collegiate debut at the other outside slot as she tallied 10 kills on 32 swings as she hit .219.  Tori also picked up three aces and seven digs.  Former CCC Rookie of the Year Mackenzie Guerre (Carlsbad, Calif.) put up a formidable block all night as she picked up five assist blocks while also grabbing six kills.  Sophomore Alleigh VandeMerkt (Riverside, Ill.) picked up a match high 34 assists in the loss while also picking up seven digs.

The visiting Owls, who were running a 6-2 offense, received great setting from sophomore Alexis Michael (Windham, N.H.) and freshmanBrooke Bell (Melrose, Mass.) who combined to record 53 assists (27 and 17 respectively).  Sophomore Angela Silveri (Poughquog, N.Y.) was explosive on the pin as she knocked down a team high 15 kills on just 31 swings.  Silveri also picked up two aces in the five set win.  Sophomore Madeline Nossif (Portsmouth, N.H.) , who recorded a team high four assist blocks, also chipped in with a nice offensive output of 12 kills.  Junior libero Sammy Dormio (Leesburg, Va.) was stellar on defense as she led a trio of Owls with double digit digs by collecting 20.  Alexis Michael picked up 15 as Christine Hadfield chipped in with 12. 

Against Wesllesley, Keene State dropped the first set 25-11. The Blue quickly built a 15-5 lead, before closing out the set. Set two was much closer, with Wellesley holding a 12-9 lead halfway through action. The Blue gained momentum to go up by eight, at 19-11 after a Keene attack error, but the Owls battled back to within two after a Christine Hadfield ace made it 22-20. Wellesley then sealed the second set with kills from Sydney Carfagno and Sierra Weingartner to take the 25-22 victory.

Keene State won the third set in a back and forth affair that saw the teams tied as late as 18-18. Keene State was able to take advantage of several Wellesley errors down the stretch, as the Owls outscored Wellesley 7-5 without a single kill, closing out the match with a 25-23 victory. In the final set, Wellesley battled back from an early seven point deficit (10-3) before chipping away and final knotting the game at 19-19 on a Keene attack error. The Blue then closed out the match by outscoring the Owls 6-3 over the final nine points.

For Keene State, Angela Silveri tallied 10 kills, while Madeline Nossif added six kills and four blocks. Alexis Michal and Sammy Dormio picked up 10 digs each with Michal adding a team-high 15 assists.

Keene State host Westfield State in its home opening match on Wednesday (7 p.m.) at Spaulding Gym.