KEENE, N.H.--The Keene State College volleyball team sent its senior class out with a win and gave head coach Bob Weiner career win No. 500 as the Owls split a tri-match with Eastern Connecticut State and Maine Maritime Academy on Saturday at Spaulding Gym.  The Owls lost to the Warriors 3-2 (25-16, 25-23, 19-25, 17-25, 13-15) before defeating the Mariners 3-2 (17-25, 25-14, 25-14, 25-27, 15-8).

Records

• Keene State: 17-13, 4-3 LEC
• Eastern Connecticut State: 18-11, 4-3 LEC
• Maine Maritime: 21-8

Quotable

• "We played really well today.  They took what we've been doing in practice to heart.  I'm so glad we played well.  It's not the way I expected the day to go, but I'll take it.   We've been in the (LEC) Final Four every year since I've been here, and the path goes through Willimantic, so let's go do it." -- Head Coach Bob Weiner

Up Next

• Keene State will be the No. 5 seed in next week's Little East Conference tournament and will get an immediate rematch with the Warriors, in Willimantic on November 1 at 7 p.m.

Tale of the Tape - Eastern Conn. State

• Rachel Lamica had 20 kills, 10 digs, and three block assists, while Courtney Collins hit .276 with 13 kills and a pair of block assists.
• Kat Carrel and Brooke Hatanaka each had six kills for KSC.  Katie Cunningham had 43 assists and 18 digs, and Riley Bunker had a team high 20 digs.  Leslie Hearns added 19 digs, while Taylor Bright had 17.
• The Warriors got 19 kills and 14 digs from Adrianna Mihalek, and 10 kills each from Ashley Adams and Kay Mullen.  Michelle Valliere had a team high 35 digs, and Leah Sopneski had 27 assists, and Fabiana Della-Monica had 17 assists.

How it Happened - Eastern Conn. State

• The Owls rolled through the first two sets but let the Warriors take the next three.
• Leslie Hearns, one of three seniors honored on the day, served KSC into a 6-0 lead in the first set, and the lead grew to 11-4 on a kill by Brooke Hatanaka.  
• Three straight ECSU errors gave KSC a 17-8 lead, and the Warriors could not get closer, falling behind 24-13 on a kill by Carrel, and Hannah Szymanski ended the set with a kill from Cunningham's pass.
• The second set saw KSC take a 9-5 lead on Lamica's service ace, but the Warriors went on a 9-2 run for a 14-11 lead, capped by Mihalek's kill.
• ECSU extended the lead to 21-17, but KSC rallied, outscoring the Warriors 8-2 the rest of the way, as Collins gave KSC a 2-0 lead with a kill.
• The Warriors started stronger in the third set, taking a 12-5 lead on Valliere's service ace, and increasing it to 20-9 on a KSC error.  The Owls rallied to within four at 23-19, but the Warriors picked up their first set win with the next two points.
• Eastern Conn. State took an 8-4 lead in the earlyt stage of set four, but KSC closed to within 12-10 on a Warriors' error.  KSC never got closer than four the rest of the way, as ECSU scored the final three points to claim the set.
• In the deciding fifth set, Eastern Conn. State took a quick 6-3 lead on a kill by Ashley Adams,  and increased the lead to 11-6 on a kill by Carly Balskus.
• Kills from Hatanaka, Collins, and Lamica pulled the Owls within one, and a Warriors' error tied the set at 11.  Two straight kills for ECSU put them back in front, and Mihalek ended the set with a kill for the Warriors' win.

Tale of the Tape - Maine Maritime

• Lamica hit .350 with 18 more kills, while Hatanaka had a career high 12 kills as KSC ended a five match losing skid.  
• The Owls hit .194, while limiting the Mariners to .036 hitting.  
• Cunningham had 36 more assists, giving her 868 this year and moving her within 18 assists of the ninth highest total in KSC history.
• Bunker added 26 more digs, leaving her a mere 11 away from 1,000 for her career.

How It Happened - Maine Maritime

• The Mariners started the first set hot, opening up an 11-2 lead on a KSC error and never looking back.  Courtney Collins and Kat Carrel combined for a block on Tess Clark that cut the lead to 17-12, and Bunker's service ace cut the lead to 20-17 before MMA scored the final five points of the set for a 25-17 win.
• Szymanski had blocks on consecutive plays in the second set as KSC took a 6-3 lead, and Lamica's block on Clark increased the advantage to 15-9.
• Lamica then had a kill to grow the lead to 18-10, and Hatanaka and Collins ended the set with consecutive kills from a 25-14 win.
• Two more kills from Lamica and another from Katie Cunningham saw the Owls tie the third set at three after an early deficit, and Hatanaka had two more kills as the lead grew to 13-7.
• Lamica, Szymanski, and Hatanaka each had a kill as the Owls scored four straight points, taking a 22-12 lead, and it was Hatanaka's block on Gillian O'Neal that gave the Owls another 25-14 win.
• Set four had the Owls take another early lead, as Collins blocked Maria Perez for a 10-7 advantage, and Carrel's kill increased the lead to 15-10.  That sparked an 8-1 run by Maine Maritime, which went up 18-16 on a kill by Clark.  
• The teams continued to trade points, as the Owls took advantage of an error to tie the set at 23.  After Melissa Spaulding's service error tied the match at 25, O'Neal had a kill and an ace to end the set and tie the match at four.
• The fifth set saw the Owls fall behind 6-5 on a serving error, but score the next five points for a 10-6 lead.  Taylor Bright served up an ace for a 12-8 advantage, and the Mariners made errors on consecutive plays to give KSC and their head coach a historic win.