WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Senior right side hitter Cassidy Samuelson notched a career-best 21 kills while attacking at an eye-opening .500 percentage and the Keene State College volleyball team hit a season-best .250 as a team, but that was nullified by allowing their fifth opponent to hit .322 or better as Eastern Connecticut State University won 3-1 (25-17, 21-25, 25-21, 25-18) in Little East Conference action Saturday afternoon at Geissler Gymnasium.

Records

• Keene State:  3-11, 1-2 LEC
• Eastern Connecticut:  10-3, 3-1 LEC

How It Happened
Samuelson's kill total, which came on only 38 swings, surpassed her previous career-high of 19 set last year, and were a match-high.  Sydney Johnson added 10 kills and Molly Wetherbee had eight for KSC, whose .250 hitting percentage was the second highest the Warriors had allowed all season behind Tufts' .411 on September 6.  In fact, the aforementioned Owl trio combined for 39 kills against only six errors on 95 total attacks.  The issue for Keene State, ultimately, was they allowed Eastern to hit .356, the second highest percentage they have allowed all season and the fifth time an opponent has hit at least .322 against the Owls.  KSC has dropped all five of those matches, and in fact, in their wins, has limited the opponent to percentages of .071, -.016, and -.093.  Johnson & Wales University (R.I.)'s .115 attacking mark represents the lowest against KSC in a match that an opponent won.  In four of the last five matches, the Owls have allowed an attacking percentage of at least .233, including when Wellesley College racked up 79 kills against 31 errors on September 22 and Hunter 37 kills and eight errors on the same day.  Western Connecticut State University finished with 50 kills versus 14 miscues and, today, Eastern Connecticut had 69 kills to 16 errors.  KSC's .223 attacking percentage against is eighth of the nine teams in the conference, ahead of only the University of Massachusetts-Boston (.228).

ECSU had a whopping five players with double-digit kills, paced by 17 on .419 hitting from Anna Barry.  Bella Johnson had 15 kills (.400 pct.) and Nayeli Cruz Martinez, Sadie Blackwell, and Paige Savitsky all had 10 spikes and three errors.  All of those Warriors in double-digits needed 32 swings or less to reach their numbers.  As a team, Eastern Connecticut hit at least .300 in all four sets.

Keene State's lone leads in the opening set came when it was 2-0 and 4-3, after which they allowed six consecutive points to fall behind by five (9-4) as Cruz Martinez had three aces very quickly.  Kills by Barry widened the gap to 12-6, and the Owls were never closer than four after that.  Down by that many after a Samuelson point at 20-16, KSC scored just one more time and was outscored 5-1 down the stretch.

Eastern Connecticut broke out to a 6-3 lead to start the second, but the Owls put up five straight and never trailed again in the match-evening set, even though the Warriors continually hung around.  A rare attack error by the home team had KSC in front 13-9, and later Molly Wetherbee made it 14-10 before Samuelson swung again for a three-point (18-15) edge.  An ace from Veronica Kroha put KSC to 20 first (20-16) and up four again, but the Owls saw Eastern slice it in half twice before closing the set out on Martinez's service error.

KSC seemed to be in a good spot in the swing third frame, leading for the majority of it while also outhitting ECSU for the first time (.394 to .385).  The Owls did not make any attacking errors in the set and took a 13-9 edge on consecutive spikes by Samuelson and Kroha.  The Warriors called a timeout and scored three in a row to draw within one, but Reagan Fleming's ace later made it 18-15.  Keene State could not hang on, though, as closing out sets did remain an issue.  Eastern went ahead for the first time since it was 7-6 on Savitsky's kill that made it 19-18, and her team closed it out from there.  The Owls got the ball back to serve trailing by two, but a service error put them down 23-20 and was ultimately a big blow in the set.  After Samuelson made it a two-point deficit, Johnson had a kill and Martinez an ace to put the Owls down 2-1 in the match.

Seven attacking miscues (and a 14-to-2 kill to error ratio for ECSU) spelled trouble in a must-win fourth set as Keene State never led after scoring the opening two points on Samuelson kills.  The Warriors tallied four consecutive points, and eventually went up 9-4 on an Owl attacking miscue.  Another one made it 14-7 and, despite getting within three (15-12) for a fleeting moment on back-to-back swings by Johnson and Samuelson, KSC was doubled up 8-4 down the stretch after Samuelson made it 17-14.

Reagan Fleming finished with 16 digs for the Owls and Theresa Norris nine.  Kacie Blanchet had 39 assists and seven digs.

Paula Perez led three Warriors with double-digit digs, finishing with 18.  Meg Verizzi had 44 assists.

Service Aces

• Johnson is fourth in the conference with 2.91 kills per set and Fleming fifth in digs per set (3.83).
• Keene State has lost four of five in the series and three straight at Geissler Gymnasium since a road sweep in 2017.
• The Owls' .222 attacking percentage allowed as a team would be the highest allowed in at least 18 years.

Up Next

• KSC returns home for a mid-week non-conference match against Regis College (Mass.) (9-9, 3-2 GNAC) Wednesday, October 5 at 7:00 p.m.  The two teams have not met in 22 years.  The Pride have lost three in a row.
• Eastern Connecticut visits Eastern Nazarene College (13-1) on Tuesday (October 4) for a 6:00 p.m. start.