KEENE, N.H. – Sydney Johnson matched a career-best with 16 kills while hitting .467, and the Keene State College women's volleyball team swung at a .406 clip overall in the first set in an eventual 3-0 (25-12, 25-20, 25-22) victory over Colby-Sawyer College in non-conference action at Spaulding Gymnasium Tuesday night.

Records

• Keene State:  13-9
• Colby-Sawyer:  9-14

How It Happened
Johnson has been hot of late, and tonight was no different, as she recorded double-digit kills for the fourth time in the last five matches and seventh time in the last 11.  Combined with Saturday's matchup at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, the junior outside hitter has put up 29 kills against only five errors in the last two matches while also adding a combined 21 digs.  She put down 12 spikes in the last two sets (six each) to help the Owls close out a match where they were rarely threatened.  Colby-Sawyer led by one point a total of four times, both early in the second and third frames, but KSC quickly assumed control in both thereafter, scoring six in a row for a 13-6 edge in the second and then using a 9-2 burst in the third to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 12-6 lead.  The Chargers hung around more as the match went along, tying the third set at 15 with a 9-3 surge of their own, put a pair of kills by Johnson and three CSC attacking errors put KSC right back up five.  Still down by that margin at 23-18, the Chargers got within 24-22 looking for a final comeback bid, but Ali McLoughlin's swing off Kacie Blanchet's feed following a replayed point put the Owls back in the win column in their first home match since October 9.

Keene State got off to a powerful start, setting the tone with a block from Cassidy Samuelson and Elizabeth Johnson right off the bat before McLoughlin, Samuelson, and Emilyann Ashford put up three consecutive kills for an immediate 4-1 lead.  Later ahead by two, the Owls sprinted away in the opening set by scoring 10 of the next 11 points to make it 17-6.  A balanced KSC side had five kills and two aces in that span, and overall outhit Colby-Sawyer .406 to .111 while doubling them up in kills (16-8) as they won the first frame by 13 points.  The Chargers did rebound to hit .290 in the second set (KSC .297), but Johnson showed off her serving prowess by recording three of the Owls' four aces in the set.  Colby-Sawyer did not have any in the 25-20 defeat, and was overall beaten 9-2 in that category.  Johnson had six of them.

McLoughlin finished with eight kills and seven digs, while Samuelson had seven kills on a .357 hitting percentage.  Blanchet racked up 31 assists, five digs and a pair of kills as the Owls look to right the ship heading into the final weeks of the regular season.  Shaelyn Thornton led Colby-Sawyer with nine kills and Ally Majenski had eight.  Audra Fontes had a match-best 19 digs.

Service Aces

• Johnson has a team-high 222 kills this season and five games of double-digits in spikes and digs since October 2.  She is hitting .215 in that span.
• Blanchet will likely soon move into the top 10 on the Keene State career assists list, currently with 884, 25 behind Katie Cunningham '17.
• Keene State has won seven straight in the series (five in three sets) and 14 of 17 overall.

Up Next

• The Owls visit Western New England University (10-10, 3-3 CCC) for a Thursday night (October 21) match at 7:00 p.m.
• Colby-Sawyer returns home to host Plymouth State University (19-1, 7-0 LEC) on the same night (7:00 p.m.).  The Panthers suffered their first loss of the season, 3-0, tonight to Middlebury College.