Box Score KEENE, N.H. – Senior
Megan Palmer finished with a team-leading 13 kills while
Kacie Blanchet added 33 assists and 21 digs as the Keene State College women's volleyball team came up with a 3-1 (25-19, 18-25, 25-17, 25-15) victory over Rhode Island College Wednesday night in their first match at Spaulding Gymnasium since November 2, 2019.
Records
- Keene State: 1-1, 1-1 LEC
- Rhode Island College: 0-3, 0-3 LEC
How It Happened
In a match where the Owls got 15 players action and tried out various combinations, it was a pair of familiar faces that led the attack. In addition to Palmer, sophomore
Sydney Johnson added nine kills and hit .261.
Ali McLoughlin had five spikes and six of KSC's 14 aces. Aside from a second set where Keene State had more errors (13) than kills (8) when RIC posted a 25-18 win to even the match, the Owls amassed 39 kills against only 15 miscues in the other three frames, taking each of them by at least six points. Junior Amelia Murphy had a nice evening and piled up 16 kills and 12 digs for the Anchorwomen, but her next closest teammate had five spikes. Rhode Island College was limited to a .092 hitting percentage overall in the match.
The Anchorwomen scored three of the first four points in the opening set before Keene State answered with four in a row for a 5-3 lead. Rhode Island College only tied it once more after that (8-8), but hung around, making it 14-13 on Eden Anthony's kill. The Owls took command from there, ballooning a 17-15 edge to 21-15 with four straight points and later extended the surge to 7-2, bringing up set point. RIC staved it off twice, but Blanchet set up Johnson to put KSC up 1-0 in the match.
Kelsey Harper's ace early in the second had the Owls up 7-2 and it looked as if they were on their way, but Rhode Island College hit back seven consecutive points and never relinquished the lead after that while winning the second set. Five straight kept Keene State in it, within 15-14, but another run of Anchorwomen points – this time five in a row – made it 20-14 and the Owls never got closer than five.
The next two sets belonged to Keene State comfortably as they wrapped up a Spaulding Gym win for the first time in well over 500 days, as three consecutive aces by McLoughlin helped build an 8-5 lead in the third set before Palmer's later made it 11-6. The Owls blew it open with a 6-1 burst later, culminating with a pair of spikes from the senior captain that provided a 21-12 edge. KSC wrapped up a 25-17 win to take a 2-1 lead in the match and were never threatened in the clinching fourth set, scoring eight of the opening 10 points before subsequently leading 14-3 after six more points in a row, three coming on kills. Rhode Island College briefly got within five, but it was short-lived as three kills in quick succession from Johnson made it 20-12 and KSC went up double-digits (23-13) for the first time moments later. Palmer, fittingly, had a pair of kills down the stretch to wrap things up for the evening.
Service Aces
- Blanchet, a freshman from Salem, N.H., had a second consecutive impressive spring performance, recording her second double-double. She has 58 assists and 31 digs in her first two collegiate matches.
- Johnson has 136 kills in her first 34 matches as an Owl, 82 of which have come in the last eight matches dating back to October 23, 2019.
- KSC has won 12 of the past 13 against Rhode Island College, only falling in five sets in 2018, and 51 of their last 63 matches overall at home.
Up Next
- Keene State hosts Castleton University (0-2, 0-2 LEC) next Thursday (April 15) at 7:00 p.m.
- Rhode Island College will entertain the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (1-0, 1-0 LEC) on the same night at 6:00 p.m.
