BOSTON, Mass. – The Keene State College women's volleyball team was three points away from beating the University of Massachusetts-Boston at the Clark Athletic Center for the first time in 13 years and, in the process, hosting the Little East Conference tournament championship on Saturday on their home court, but surrendered six of the final seven points to drop a tough 3-2 (25-17, 16-25, 25-18, 19-25, 13-15) decision to the Beacons in Thursday night's semifinal.

Records

• Keene State:  17-13
• UMass-Boston:  13-12

How It Happened
The Owls put up 11 kills against just one error, hitting .417 in a third set where they used a monster 15-4 surge to turn a one-point deficit into a 24-14 lead and eventual 2-1 match advantage, but they could not hold on.  KSC opened up leads of 4-1, 7-3, and 10-6 in the fourth frame looking to close the match, but the Beacons stormed back for a 14-13 edge and never trailed again, pushing the semifinal between the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the league to the distance.  Overall, the Owls were outscored 14-5 over a 19-point span in the fourth, culminating with two aces from Taryn Broughal.  UMB had half of their 10 aces in that set.  Keene State drew within two at 21-19, but one kill and three Owl errors evened the match for the Beacons, who overall closed on a 19-9 burst to seemingly enter the fifth with momentum.  However, the Owls snuffed that out, scoring four of the opening five points on an ace by Kacie Blanchet and three consecutive Beacon errors.  KSC still led 8-6 after UMB could not find the range on back-to-back points and then 11-8 after a pair of spikes from Sydney Johnson, inching closer to the finish line with each point.  Elizabeth Johnson made it 12-9 shortly thereafter, and gave the Owls the lead again at 13-12 after UMass-Boston had put up three in a row, but KSC could not score again.  Marcelle Tiscareno, who had 13 kills in the match – five in the 15-point fifth set – and hit .400, twice tied the set before powering down another feed from Carsen Komminsk to put her team ahead for the first time in the final frame, bringing up match point in the process.  A setting miscue proved to be the final act of the first five-set match between the teams in eight years and the Owls' season, who were knocked out for the second straight season by UMass-Boston after eliminating the Beacons in 2018 in Willimantic, Conn.

Keene State hit .150 or lower in three of the five sets, including in the second and fourth when they led in the match.  For the second time this season in Boston, the Owls won the first set (this time 25-17), but the Beacons answered by winning the second frame, hitting a commanding .500 in a nine-point win.  KSC bounced back with a .417 percentage of their own, but overall was minus-22 in kills.
McLoughlin and Sydney Johnson finished with 10 kills apiece and Elizabeth Johnson nine (on .444 hitting).  Reagan Fleming had 15 digs and Blanchet 38 assists, five digs, and three aces.

The Beacons had four players in double-digits for kills, led by Aleks Qose's 16.  Emilia Czapiewska had 14 and Tiscareno 13.  Komminsk had 53 assists, seven digs and three aces as Boston outhit the Owls .282 to .163, overcoming a whopping 21 serving errors.

Service Aces

• KSC was minus-37 in kills in the two meetings with UMB.  The Beacons hit .331 and .282 in the two matches against the Owls, who won two matches this season when the opposition connected at higher than .200 (Western New England University, Endicott College).
• Keene State has lost eight out of 10 LEC tournament meetings against UMass-Boston.  The wins came in the 2008 final in Keene and 2018 semifinal at ECSU.  KSC was bidding to have the final on their home floor for the first since the 3-2 thriller in '08 that gave the Owls their lone league tournament championship.
• Sydney Johnson finishes the season with exactly 300 kills, while Elizabeth Johnson hit a team-best .320 on 425 swings.

Up Next

• Keene State's season is over.  They were aiming for their ninth appearance in the LEC title game.  The Owls finished 7-10 over their final 17 matches following a 10-3 start, and 6-8 on the road overall.
• UMass-Boston takes on Eastern Connecticut (18-7, 5-3 LEC) in the championship on Saturday, November 6 at 1:00 p.m.  The Beacons have won nine conference tournament titles and the Warriors seven.  ECSU plowed through top-seeded Plymouth State University in a 3-1 win in today's other semifinal, knocking out the Panthers, who had gone 8-0 in the regular season conference slate.  The Warriors have won three straight over UMB.