KEENE, N.H. –
Sydney Johnson and
Cassidy Samuelson combined for 30 kills as the No. 3 seed Keene State College women's volleyball team closed strong, pouring it on late in both the third and fourth sets to get revenge on sixth-seeded University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in a 3-1 (25-17, 18-25, 25-22, 25-17) Little East Conference tournament quarterfinal victory Tuesday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.
Records
- Keene State: 17-12
- UMass-Dartmouth: 11-12
How It Happened
The Owls were surprised by the Corsairs less than a month ago when UMD snapped a 16-game losing streak in the series, and midway through Tuesday night's quarterfinal, it looked as if it might be heading in a similar direction with the visitors holding leads of 20-15 and 22-18 late in the third set of a tied match (1-1). However, KSC, who hit a powerful .331 with 54 kills against only 11 errors overall, answered in a big way, scoring the final seven points culminating with a pair of kills from Samuelson, one from
Elizabeth Johnson, and an ace from
Kacie Blanchet to snatch a 2-1 lead in the match. Samuelson finished with six spikes on 10 swings in the momentum-altering third alone, where KSC hit an eye-opening .452 and made only one attacking miscue. Despite the gaudy percentage, the Owls had to come from behind, as UMass-Dartmouth translated a 25-18 second set win into a 7-2 edge early in the next when Kate Wade notched two of her match-high 21 kills and Vanessa Barreto a pair of aces in a 5-0 run that forced an Owl timeout. KSC had an answer, getting within one four times before tying the set at 13. Even still, the Corsairs hit back with four in a row and eventually led 20-15 following swings by Marley Alexander and Devon Laing to go along with an ace by Wade that seemed to put them in firm control, but Keene State had other ideas. In UMD's regular season win here, the two teams split the opening two sets before the Corsairs took the third, opening on an 8-2 burst in an eventual 25-19 win where they never trailed. Tonight appeared to be heading for a similar script before it flipped abruptly.
The snowball kept rolling downhill for Keene State, and they took a 10-8 fourth set lead after three consecutive spikes from
Sydney Johnson aided in flipping around a two-point deficit and allowed KSC to play from in front. UMass-Dartmouth drew within one four times after that, but never led again as a Corsair blocking error and
Emilyann Ashford ace made it 17-14 and a combined block Samuelson and
Elizabeth Johnson widened the gap to 21-15, forcing a timeout. UMD put up the next two after it, but Samuelson answered with two more spikes and two Corsair attacks that went out wrapped up KSC's win.
Sydney Johnson finished with 16 kills and 20 digs, while Samuelson had 14 kills on .355 hitting. Blanchet had 42 assists and five of KSC's nine aces. The Owls had four record double-digit digs.
Reagan Fleming had 17.
Wade hit .327 and took 49 swings to get her 21 kills. Laing had 12 and Marley Alexander nine, with the trio combining for 42 of 49 kills.
Service Aces
- KSC outhit the Corsairs .331 to .172 and made 12 fewer attacking errors.
- The Owls lead the all-time series 20-8, but in the previous 27 meetings the two teams had never faced each other in the postseason before tonight.
- Keene State improved to 14-3 when hitting better than .200 in a match this season.
Up Next
- KSC advances to the LEC semifinals where they will take on No. 2 seed University of Massachusetts-Boston on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. It will be the 10th LEC tournament meeting between the teams. KSC has lost seven of the first nine, but did down the Beacons 3-1 in the 2018 semis.
- UMass-Dartmouth's season is over. They actually bettered their attacking percentage at Spaulding Gymnasium from earlier in the season (.108 to .172), but allowed their third-highest opponent mark of the season tonight. After their win here on October 9, the Corsairs lost six of their final nine and finished 3-6 on the road.
