KEENE, N.H.--The Keene State College volleyball team was handed a 3-0 (25-10, 25-20, 25-19) setback by Johnson & Wales University (RI) in their home opener at Spaulding Gym on Thursday night.

Records

• Keene State: 5-6
• Johnson & Wales: 9-0

Up Next

• Keene State opens Little East Conference play by hosting UMass Dartmouth on Saturday in a tri-match that will also feature Lasell.
• Johnson & Wales heads to Norwich University for a Great Northeast Athletic Conference match that begins at noon.

Tale of The Tape

• Rachel Lamica led Keene State with seven kills, while Brooke Hatanaka had five.  Katie Cunningham had nine assists and nine digs, and Riley Bunker had 11 digs.
• Keene State could not withstand the strong play oh the Wildcats' Emily Kalmink, who hit .435 for the match with 12 kills.  Brylee Frank had 29 assists and Gianna Esposito had 19 digs.  Starsha Tunstall also had a strong game, hitting .900 with five service aces.
• The Wildcats, who remained undefeated on the year, have yet to drop a set this season.

Set One Highlights

• Keene State trimmed the lead to 5-3 on a kil by Olivia Mathieu, but the Wildcats went on a 8-0 run on the serving on Starsha Tunstall, who had three service aces during that span as the lead increased to 13-3.
• Three Johnson & Wales errors and a kill by Lamica cut the lead to 14-10, only to see Johnson & Wales, who hit .417 for the set, score the final 11 points to finish proceedings.

Set Two Highlights

• Set two started nip-and-tuck, with KSC edging out to a 9-6 lead on a kill by Brooke Hatanaka.  Courtney Collins' solo block on Elizabeth Hamilton increased the KSC lead to 13-9.
• A kill from Collins restored KSC's advantage to 19-16, but Tunstall served the Wildcats back into the match, reeling off five straight points for a 21-19 lead.
• KSC tied the match back at 21 on an error, but Kalmink had a pair of kills to close out the set.

Set Three Highlights

• It was the Owls who took a big lead in the early going, with kills from Lamica and Hannah Syzmanski boosting KSC to an 8-3 advantage.
• Five straight points for Johnson & Wales got the Wildcats within one at 9-8, and the lead grew to 17-12 on a kil from Frank.
• A kill from Lamica and a JWU error cut the Wildcat lead to 23-19, but the match ended on a KSC serving error and a kill by Kate Walker.