SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Cassidy Samuelson powered down a career-best 19 kills and Emilyann Ashford added 14 on .462 hitting as the Keene State College women's volleyball team won for the second time in three nights, beating Western New England University 3-2 (19-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-19, 15-9) Thursday evening at the Alumni Healthful Living Center.

Records

• Keene State:  14-9
• Western New England:  10-11

How It Happened
Things did not always look great for the Owls, as WNE hit .282 in an opening set win and then .370 while taking the third, but KSC rallied, recording eight more kills than the Golden Bears in the fourth and fifth while improving to 2-1 in matches that go the distance this season.  Already off a 25-20 triumph in a third frame that saw Western New England swing over 270 points better than the Owls and never trail, the home team ran out to a 5-2 lead in a potential clinching set after a pair of kills and an ace, but KSC found a much quicker response this time around.  Ashford starred on three consecutive points, notching two kills and a block, to put KSC in front 8-7, which later became 17-13 following a 7-2 burst.  WNE briefly drew within two, but the Owls put up five of the next six culminating with kills by Ashford and Elizabeth Johnson for a comfortable 22-16 edge that was never threatened.  Johnson sent Keene State to a fifth set by notching a kill, and from there it was all Owls, who – in shades of a match against Eastern Connecticut State University where they ran out to a 7-1 lead in the decisive set – put up the first seven of the fifth set this time around.  Samuelson powered down a pair of kills in that span and four in the deciding frame overall.  Fourteen of her 19 spikes came in the sets the Owls won.  The early onslaught helped KSC put Western New England out of it quickly, as they never got any closer than five.  Three consecutive kills from three different Owls widened the gap to 10-2 before they later ran off two more kills and an ace to bring up match point, which Ali McLoughlin cashed in when it was 14-9.

The final set was much like the majority of the rest of the match, as each team that took control early in a given frame would go on to win.  The Golden Bears forced KSC to call a very quick timeout in the first after they scored six in a row for a 6-1 lead, and the Owls never fully recovered, sliding to a 25-19 loss after getting as close as 10-8.  Three kills in a row by Ashford in the second put KSC in front 11-5 en route to a 25-19 win of their own that evened the match, but that was short-lived, as WNE answered right back by scoring nine of the opening 12 in the third on their way to a 25-20 final.  The Owls made a push to draw within 13-11, but then were forced to call for another stoppage after surrendering six of the next seven to fall back down 19-12.  That is when the match appeared to be swinging in Western New England's direction, and even moreso when they opened the fourth with an early edge, but Keene State had other ideas.

Sydney Johnson notched another double-double for the Owls, finishing with 10 kills, 17 digs, and three block assists.  The ever-consistent Kacie Blanchet added 47 assists, 12 digs, and three aces, while Brianna Azzinaro had 12 digs.  Western New England was paced by 15 kills apiece from Olivia Hall and Sarah Scott, but was held to a .103 attacking percentage after they took a 2-1 lead in the match and lost for the fourth time in their last five outings to sink under .500.

Service Aces

• Samuelson, a sophomore, bettered her career-best in kills by six, surpassing the 13 she finished with at Clark University on October 7.
• Blanchet moved into the top 10 on the all-time Owls' assists list with her 47 tonight.
• Keene State saw their name in the first set of the NCAA Region I rankings released on Wednesday.  They were one of three Little East Conference teams in the poll and one of nine overall.  The initial rankings did not order teams numerically, nor did it factor in the record against regionally ranked opponents.  All subsequent polls will order teams by record and include all regularly used ranking criteria.  Beginning in 2021, the New England region was broken up into two separate smaller alignments.
• KSC has won the last two in the head-to-head series and two of the past three in Springfield.

Up Next

• The Owls wrap up their regular season home schedule on Saturday (October 23) when they welcome the University of Southern Maine (11-12, 2-4 LEC) for a 12:00 p.m. start and Trinity College (Conn.) (8-12, 1-7 NESCAC) at 4:00 p.m. for a Senior Day tri-match.
• Western New England goes to Roger Williams University (7-9, 5-1 CCC) for a conference contest on the same day at 1:00 p.m.