KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College women's volleyball team outhit the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth by a wide .282 to .023 margin while rebounding from an opening set loss to tie Saturday afternoon's match, but then hit just .108 and .045 in the final two sets as they tumbled to a 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 19-25, 21-25) Little East Conference loss at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Records

• Keene State:  11-8, 2-2 LEC
• UMass-Dartmouth:  8-6, 3-1 LEC

How It Happened
The Owls had won their first two league matches at home, downing Western Connecticut State University 3-0 and Eastern Connecticut State University 3-2 the past two Saturdays, but played mostly from behind this afternoon as they lost to UMass-Dartmouth for the first time since 2004.  The result ends a stretch of 16 consecutive KSC wins in the series that included 10 (and the last seven in a row) in three sets.  In fact, the Corsairs had not taken a set from the Owls since 2013, losing 22 straight before a 25-23 win in the first today where they raced out to leads of 8-3 and 15-7.  Keene State, as they have been apt to do recently, battled back, scoring five in a row for a 23-22 advantage to lead for the first time since it was 3-2, but kills by Kate Wade and Zoe Dizenzo put UMD back in front, and a KSC attack error had them playing from behind in the match.

Keene State answered with a big second frame behind Sydney Johnson and Cassidy Samuelson, who combined for 10 kills against just two errors to go along with 14 digs, eventually prevailing 25-16 despite allowing five of the first seven points.  Johnson and Ali McLoughlin powered down consecutive kills to put the Owls ahead 14-12, and they never trailed again.  Spikes by Samuelson and Emilyann Ashford pushed the lead to five (21-15), and Keene State had no trouble from there, scoring four of the final five points.  After UMass-Dartmouth drew within 15-14, they were outscored 10-2 down the stretch.  KSC had 11 more digs (23-12) in the second and held the Corsairs to .023 hitting, well over 200 points lower than the Owls' match-high .282 clip.

The momentum was short-lived for KSC, who fell behind 8-2 in the important third set and never got closer than three after that.  Trailing 12-5, four of five points for the Owls culminating with a service ace by Kacie Blanchet made it 13-9, but UMD put up the next two and eventually was up 18-12 after consecutive Owl attacking errors.  Keene State put up the next three following a timeout to hang around, but the Corsairs immediately answered back with three of their own and went up 23-16 following kills by Marley Alexander and Devon Laing.  Lauryn Latimore's swing ended the set, one in which the Owls made eight attacking errors, three reception errors, and two service errors.

UMass-Dartmouth flipped around the fourth set quickly, turning a 5-2 deficit into a 13-9 lead with an 11-4 burst.  The stretch began with four consecutive kills, and ended with KSC battling uphill again.  Consecutive Corsair blocks – two of their four in the match – widened the gap to 17-12, which later became 20-15 after two Owl errors and Gabriella Monico's ace.  In a deep hole, Keene State got within two twice, the last of which coming on Ashford's kill that made it 22-20, but a swing by Laing and an ace by Dizenzo brought up match point, which UMass-Dartmouth clinched after McLoughlin's attack went into the net.

Keene State compiled just 23 kills and 17 errors over the final two frames, hitting a combined .074 over that span.  The Corsairs hit a combined .141 in their third and fourth set victories.

Ashford led the Owls with 14 kills (.313 pct.) while Samuelson (.276 pct.) and Johnson (.119 pct.) each had 11.  Ali McLoughlin finished with 10, marking the second straight match where KSC has had four record double-digit kills, but they lost both and have dropped five of six overall since starting 10-3.  Johnson added 30 digs and three assists.

Wade led UMass-Dartmouth with 12 kills and Laing added 10.  Dizenzo finished with 40 assists and 13 digs.

Service Aces

• Blanchet finished with 44 assists and 19 digs.  She has 630 helpers this season and 783 in her career that covers 83 sets (24 matches), and needs just 126 more to already move into the top 10 on the all-time Keene State career assists list.
• Keene State's 53 total kills were their second highest total in a match this season, but their 29 attacking errors marked a season-high and their .142 hitting percentage was their second lowest, only topping the .048 clip they swung at against RIT.
• The loss leaves KSC in fifth place in the league standings, a half-game behind ECSU and WCSU and a half-game ahead of Rhode Island College.

Up Next

• The Owls travel to Castleton University (4-12, 0-4 LEC) for a mid-week conference matchup on Wednesday, October 13 at 7:00 p.m.
• UMass-Dartmouth hosts the University of Massachusetts-Boston (7-11, 1-3 LEC) on the same night (7:00 p.m.).