PLYMOUTH, N.H. - The Keene State College volleyball team split a pair of matches on the first day of the Granite State Challenge Friday at Plymouth State University.  KSC swept The Sage Colleges 3-0 before falling to Rivier University 3-1.

Records

• Keene State:  4-2
• Sage:  0-6
• Rivier:  3-3

How It Happened - Sage

The Owls got seven kills from Elizabeth Johnson, who hit .333, and six from Emilyann Ashford while sweeping the day's first match against the Gators in the Hartman Union Building at Plymouth State University.  Olivia Mathieu once again led KSC in digs with 22, and Bailey Wilson had 25 assists and four digs.  Sage, playing in the Granite State Challenge for the first time, actually had 70 digs to Keene's 55, but the Owls hit .124 as a team and the Gators .093.

How It Happened - Rivier

The Raiders took two of the first three sets, all decided by four points or less, before taking the match with a 25-18 win in the fourth set.  Rivier won the first set 25-21, but the Owls answered with a 26-24 victory in the second.  The Raiders took to next two, including the third in extra points (27-25).  Ali McLoughlin had a team-best 13 kills for KSC, while Megan Palmer had nine and Ashford eight.  Mathieu had 26 more digs.  Rivier was paced by 17 digs and a game-high 16 kills from Sydney Racevicius.  Jess Whyte had 13 kills.  Keene State was outhit .208 to .137 in the match.

Up Next

• Keene State makes their 2019 home debut on Saturday as the challenge wraps up with matchups against Elmira College (2-4) at 12:00 pm and New England College (2-3) at 4:00 pm.
• Sage plays Plymouth State University and New England College at KSC tomorrow, while Rivier plays Elmira and Plymouth State.