Box Score KEENE, N.H. – Seven Owls recorded three or more kills as the balanced Keene State College women's volleyball team started strong and flew by Castleton University 3-0 (25-6, 25-19, 25-16) in Little East action Thursday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.
Records
- Keene State: 2-1, 2-1 LEC
- Castleton: 0-3, 0-3 LEC
Postgame Interview with Coach Weiner
Postgame Player Interview (Sydney Johnson)
How It Happened
Playing the first time in eight days and a second consecutive home game against a Spartans program that is still trying to find their footing in the Little East Conference since joining prior to the 2018 season, Keene State did not have much trouble. They have now won all nine sets played against CU in the last three years as Castleton is still in search of their first league victory. After the teams split the first four points of the match, the Owls rattled off 13 of the next 14 points and eventually won the opening set 25-6, hitting .417 and Castleton managed just three kills.
The second frame started similarly, with a kill and ace by
Kelsey Harper helping KSC score the first three, but the Spartans managed to hang around far longer this time around, taking their first lead at 6-5 after three points in a row. The Owls broke from a 9-9 tie and appeared to take command after building a 16-11 edge, but CU scored six of the next seven as KSC made four errors in that span to tie the at 18. Keene State actually had more errors than kills in the second set, but did score the final six in a variety of ways to get out of dodge and post a 25-19 win to go up two sets to none.
Ainsley Hegg had a pair of spikes in that stretch, while reigning LEC Defensive Player of the Week
Kacie Blanchet also had a pair of aces and
Sara Murphy a solo block.
Castleton hit above .000 in a set for the first time in the third and put up nine kills against only four errors while hitting .167, but it was not enough to extend the match any further, as the Owls racked up 19 kills against just three errors while hitting .444 to wrap up the match with a never-really-threatening 25-16 win in the third. Keene State went up 8-5 after four straight points on kills by
Megan Palmer,
Sydney Johnson, and
Emilyann Ashford, but the Spartans stayed within two at 13-11 on a kill by Lizzie Goodrich and were still down by that margin at 15-13 not long after. However, a subsequent run of five straight points for the Owls eroded CU's hopes and then consecutive kills by Johnson from Blanchet had KSC well on their way at 22-14. The match ended in interesting fashion after
Reagan Fleming received Madison Hamelink's serve, which actually managed to go over the net and find the floor on Castleton's side without any other Owl or any Spartan touching it.
Keene State finished with 40 kills in the match to Castleton's 19 and was paced by seven apiece from Palmer (.400 pct.) and Ashford (.462 pct.). Johnson and
Cassidy Samuelson each added six, with Samuelson doing so without making an error. Blanchet racked up 30 more assists, six digs, and four aces while
Sarah Williams had 12 digs. Castleton got seven spikes (.040) from Goodrich and 16 assists and 10 digs from Bre MacDuff, but did not have any aces as a team while dropping their 14th straight match dating to 2019. Their last victory came against Paul Smith's College on September 28 of that year.
KSC's .240 hitting percentage in the match was a season-high.
Service Aces
- The two teams did not meet until 2018, the year Castleton joined the Little East. This was the first meeting of the three – KSC has won all nine sets – played in Spaulding Gymnasium. KSC is slated to visit Glenbrook Gymnasium again the fall, which is where the previous two matches were played.
- Blanchet, who reached 1,000 career assists in high school, has 88 in her first three collegiate matches, recording at least 25 in each one.
Up Next
- Keene State is scheduled to wrap up their spring home slate on Saturday (April 17) when they welcome Plymouth State University (2-0, 2-0 LEC) for a 1:00 p.m. start.
- Castleton hosts Rhode Island College (0-4, 0-4 LEC) for their second and final home match of the spring slate on Sunday, April 25 at 1:00 p.m.
