BOSTON, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts-Boston had a 14-6 edge in aces and outhit the Keene State College volleyball team .325 to .229 while posting a 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-20) Little East Conference victory Saturday afternoon at the Clark Athletic Center, dropping the Owls to 3-3 in league action and sixth place in the current standings.

Records

• Keene State:  12-9, 3-3 LEC
• UMass-Boston:  9-11, 3-3 LEC

How It Happened
KSC got off to a promising start in a quest for their first road win over UMass-Boston since 2008 after rallying from an 8-3 hole and later a 22-21 deficit to take the opening set, but the Beacons were 17 kills better than the Owls over the next three sets, winning their second consecutive match overall after losing four of five.  UMB had been swept eight times this season, including by league opponents Eastern Connecticut State University and Plymouth State University to go along with a four-set loss at Rhode Island College, but today recorded a season-best 57 kills to go along with a .325 attacking percentage, their second best mark of the season and the highest Keene State has allowed.  Since a 10-3 start, the Owls have lost six of eight.  UMass-Boston has not been above .500 this season, but moved into fourth place in the LEC after today's win and Wednesday's at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.  UMD is currently fifth with the Owls in sixth, though the second through six spots are separated by just one game.  KSC has a tiebreaker clinched over Eastern Connecticut and Western Connecticut, but not UMass-Boston or UMass-Dartmouth.

The Owls got another double-double from Sydney Johnson, as she hit .357 while finishing with 13 kills and a team-high 10 digs.  Ali McLoughlin added 10 spikes (.261 pct.) and nine digs, while Cassidy Samuelson had eight kills and hit .235.  Kacie Blanchet narrowly missed a double-double of her own, tallying 36 assists, nine digs, and two aces.  Marcelle Tiscareno led UMass-Boston with 16 kills while swinging an eye-catching .458 while teammate Emilia Czapiewska added 14 of her own.  Five Beacons recorded multiple aces.

Johnson had an especially strong start, putting up seven kills on just 10 total attacks in the opening set as the Owls rallied to take a frame that saw 11 ties and 10 lead changes, the last of which coming when KSC scored the final four points to win 25-22.  Blanchet tied it with a kill off a set up by McLoughlin, then later wrapped it up as the team-leader in aces with another.  The Owls went up in the match despite facing an early 8-3 deficit, which they erased by scoring nine of the next 10, four on kills by Johnson.

Keene State's offense sputtered in the second set, as they could not take firm control of the match, hitting just .094 while making eight errors in a 25-18 UMass-Boston victory.  The Owls nudged out to a 6-4 lead after yet one more early swing from Johnson, but then saw the Beacons outscore them 12-2 for a 16-8 lead.  UMB had two aces and KSC made four attacking errors in that stretch that more or less clinched the set, as the Owls never got closer than five after that.  UMass-Boston recorded five of their nine blocks in that frame alone.

The Beacons' momentum had staying power, as they ensured Keene State would not get back into the match by hitting .423 and .394, respectively, in the final two sets.  The Owls' final lead in the third came at 4-3, after which UMass-Boston scored four straight and five of six.  Despite the Beacons' offensive uprising, KSC hung around, drawing within two on five different occasions, but never got over the hump.  Emilyann Ashford made it 20-18, but the Owls then had two consecutive miscues to go down four, and Czapiewska and Tiscareno's arms wrapped it up.  Neither team led by more than three over the first 24 points of the fourth set that were split 12-12, but UMass-Boston posted five kills and a block while running off six in a row to put the Owls in a deep 18-12 hole, from which they never got closer than four thereafter.  The Beacons were plus-12 in kills in the fourth set alone and had 14 more attacks than KSC overall, who had just 19 in the frame.

Service Aces

• Johnson has double-digit kills in 10 matches this season and in four of the last six. 
• Blanchet now has exactly 700 assists on the season (and 853 for her career).  After just 26 matches (90 sets), she needs just 57 more assists to move into the top 10 on the all-time Keene State career list.
• KSC is 6-2 when they record 10 or more aces and 6-7 when they do not.  They had six today and have had only 17 total in their last three matches combined.
• Keene State has lost 12 consecutive road games at UMass-Boston and now the last three overall dating to a 2018 LEC semifinal win over them in Willimantic, Conn.

Up Next

• Keene State returns home, where they will play three of four matches this week to wrap up their regular season slate at Spaulding Gymnasium, beginning with Colby-Sawyer College (9-13, 3-5 GNAC) on Tuesday, October 19 at 7:00 p.m.
• UMass-Boston hosts Regis College (Mass.) (16-5, 8-2 GNAC) on the same night (7:00 p.m.).