WORCESTER, Mass. – The Keene State College women's volleyball team came from down three to tie in the fifth set while warding off match point three times, but ultimately came up short as Clark University left the Kneller Athletic Center with a narrow 3-2 (20-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 17-15) win Thursday night in a non-conference match.

Records

• Keene State:  11-7
• Clark:  11-6

How It Happened
The Owls saw four different players record double-digit kills and hit .269 as a team, their fifth-best mark this season, but saw Clark rack up 13 service aces, get 21 kills, eight digs, and five aces from Claudia Rivera, and hit a match-best .394 in the deciding fifth set as the Cougars won despite losing the first and third sets.  KSC's 13 reception errors were a season-high, though they helped offset those by piling up 12 aces themselves.  In fact, most of the statsheet was as even as you would expect in a five-set match decided by an aggregate of one point.  Clark had a 64-62 edge in kills, 13-12 in aces, 6-4 in blocks, and 61-60 in assists while the Owls had six more digs (76-70) despite the Cougars' Marimo Oka posting a match-high 29.  The biggest separator of the two teams came on the offensive side in the final two sets, as Clark posted 29 kills against five miscues in the fourth and fifth while KSC had 23 spikes and seven errors.  With a chance to close out the contest following a 25-20 win in the third set, the Owls led by one twice very early in the fourth, but once Clark scored four in a row for a 9-6 lead, they never trailed again in the match.  Keene State did hung around, though, battling back to tie the fourth set at 21 after kills by Elizabeth Johnson and Cassidy Samuelson, but the Cougars came out of a timeout and put up the final four points to force a fifth despite KSC calling two timeouts to regroup in that span.  Clark appeared to be well in command in the fifth set, as Rivera answered Sydney Johnson's kill with three in a row of her own to put the home team up 10-6, but the Owls fought back to force a 12-12 tie on three straight spikes, two by Ali McLoughlin.  An ace by Oka brought up match point for Clark two points later, but again KSC responded, forcing extra points thanks to McLoughlin and Sofia Scherrer del Llano's error.  A kill by McLoughlin helped the Owls stay alive once more, tying the set at 15, but del Llano's swing and an error snuffed out Keene State's hopes.

Clark's comeback dimmed KSC's strong start that saw them outhit the Cougars in each of the first three sets, though the home team stayed in it with nine aces in that span including five in the second where thy won 25-20 despite being outhit by a wide .357 to .222 margin.

Sydney Johnson racked up 15 kills to lead Keene State and hit .238 while McLoughlin added 14 kills (.270 pct.).  Cassidy Samuelson finished with 13 spikes while attacking at a .346 rate, and Elizabeth Johnson put up 10 kills without making an error on 20 attempts (.500 pct.).  del Llano (14 kills) and Victoria Pastor (12) joined Rivera with double-digit kills for Clark, who was playing just their second home match since September 14.

Service Aces

• Keene State is 10-0 this season when holding the opposing team under .200 attacking but 1-7 when they are above that mark.
• In addition to having four record double-digit kills, the Owls also had that many with at least 12 digs.  Sydney Johnson and Kacie Blanchet led with 16.  Blanchet also added 47 assists.
• KSC has gone to five sets in two of the past three matches (1-1) after not doing so in the first 15 of the season.

Up Next

• Keene State hosts the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (7-6, 2-1 LEC) Saturday, October 9 at 1:00 p.m.  The teams enter with identical 2-1 league marks, trailing only Plymouth State University (4-0 LEC) and Western Connecticut State University (3-1), who also play each other on Saturday.
• Clark entertains 18th-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology (17-0, 6-0 NEWMAC) in a NEWMAC contest on Tuesday, October 12 (6:00 p.m.).