PROVIDENCE, R.I. –
Sydney Johnson finished with 14 kills on .444 hitting and 15 digs to post her eighth double-double in 13 matches this month as the Keene State College women's volleyball team jumped to third in the Little East Conference standings on the final day of the regular season, sweeping Rhode Island College 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-21) at the Murray Center.
Records
- Keene State: 16-12, 5-3 LEC
- Rhode Island College: 10-14, 2-6 LEC
How It Happened
The Owls came flying out of the gates to end their losing streak and pick up an important conference victory, hitting .389 while racking up 16 kills against just two miscues in a 25-15 opening set win. RIC hit just .111 and quickly found themselves calling a timeout facing a 12-6 deficit. Keene State never let them back in, widening the gap to 18-11 on
Elizabeth Johnson's spike and then 23-14 on a swing by
Ali McLoughlin. Consecutive Rhode Island College errors, including a poor set, gave the Owls the upper hand in the match that they never relinquished.
KSC stayed out in front for most of the second set despite RIC hanging around, pulling away from a 13-13 tie with an 8-4 burst and a 21-17 advantage. However, the Anchorwomen did not make it easy, later putting up three in a row of their own to tie the frame at 22 and force an Owl timeout after an attacking error and a blocking error on consecutive points. Keene State, behind two kills from McLoughlin, rebounded just in time to score three in a row of their own to take a 25-22 set and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third frame proved to be somewhat similar to the second, with KSC rolling out to a 9-4 advantage that eventually became 12-6. Trailing 17-9 out of another stoppage, the Anchorwomen made one final push, going on a 9-3 spurt to get within two, but they never got any closer despite having the serve with a 23-21 score. A big swing from
Emilyann Ashford brought up match point for the Owls, and on the next point, an impressive dig by
Reagan Fleming led to
Sydney Johnson making something of it, fittingly ending the match with her 14th kill.
Ashford finished with 10 kills (.280 pct.) and eight digs, while McLoughlin had nine spikes (.240 pct.) and five digs. Fleming put up double-digit digs with 14, having done so in every match she has played in this season, while
Kacie Blanchet had 38 assists and seven digs. Rhode Island College got a match-high 15 kills from Amelia Murphy, but it took 45 swings to get those, and the Anchorwomen overall were outhit .309 to .160. KSC became the fifth team to attack at better than .300 against RIC, and also had a 5-2 edge in blocks and 64-56 in digs.
Service Aces
- Sydney Johnson finishes the regular season fifth in the Little East in kills per set (2.90) and first in total kills (287) over her 99 sets of action. Blanchet is second in assists per set (9.81). As a team, KSC is first in digs per set with 15.56.
- Keene State has dominated the series, winning 16 of the past 18 head-to-head meetings including seven of the past eight in Providence dating back to 2007.
- The Owls finished in a four-way tie for second in the league standings at 5-3, but were second to emerge from that tiebreaking scenario (grabbing the No. 3 seed) due to having head-to-head victories over both Eastern Connecticut State University and Western Connecticut State University. The University of Massachusetts-Boston took second by virtue of their win over KSC.
Up Next
- KSC opens the Little East Conference tournament at home on Tuesday (November 2) with a quarterfinal matchup against the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth at 7:00 p.m. UMD won 3-1 on October 9 at Spaulding Gymnasium, ending a 16-match losing streak to the Owls, but went 3-5 down the stretch including letting a 2-0 sets lead slip away in a 3-2 home loss to Eastern Connecticut today.
- Rhode Island College's season is over. They improved to 2-3 in league play with a win over UMass-Boston on October 7, but lost their final three LEC games to finish eighth. The Anchorwomen were 4-3 at home, but 3-7 in true road matches overall.
