Box Score BOSTON, Mass. - The Keene State women's volleyball team dropped their first Little East Conference game of the season to arch-rival UMass Boston Wednesday evening, 3-0.
The Beacons (3-8, 1-1) sandwiched set wins of 25-21 with a 25-16 second-set victory, to earn their second-win in the past three matches.
UMass Boston raced out to an early 10-3 lead in set one and never looked back, as the Owls (9-4, 1-1) were only able to cut the deficit to as few as three points. In the second set, freshman Christina Elliott broke a 6-6 tie with a strong-service run and the Beacons slowly opened their lead to as many as nine in the 25-16 win.
The third set proved to be the tightest set by far, as Keene State fought to keep their four-match winning streak alive. The two teams traded 11 ties, before Elliott's service run once again put the Beacons in the lead. Elliott opened her run with a service ace to tie the set at 19-19 and then the Beacons tacked on a second point on a bad set by the Owls. After an Owls timeout, Elliott added her fifth service ace of the day and Julia Murphy tacked on a kill to push the lead to 22-19. Keene State would eventually earn the side out, but two kills by Eileen Shi and a Keene State attack error would earn the Beacons the sweep.
Keene State sophomore Rachel Lamica posted a team-high six kills, while Brooke Bell notched 10 assists and Angela Silveri chipped in with 11 digs. Senior setter Alexis Michal finished with eight assists and 10 digs.
Elliott finished the match with a team-high five aces and zero errors and added six assists and three digs in limited playing time. Shi paced the offensive attack with a career-high 15 kills and a team-best .375 hitting percentage. Murphy tacked on seven kills and tied with Bri Sousa for the match-high with three solo blocks.
Juniors Pepper Baker and Elizabeth Glavan led the Beacons with 24 assists and 19 digs respectively.
The Owls return to the court Saturday when they host Maine Maritime at 12:00pm followed by St. Michael's at 4:00 pm.
