KEENE, N.H. – First year outside hitter
Gigi Stake led her team in kills for the second time in the last three matches, compiling nine on .364 hitting in two sets, while sophomore
Molly Wetherbee and junior
Veronica Kroha combined for 12 kills against only one error as the Keene State College women's volleyball team took care of Castleton University 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-19) in Little East Conference action Wednesday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.
Records
- Keene State: 6-12, 3-2 LEC
- Castleton: 4-14, 0-5 LEC
Postgame Interview (Coach Weiner)
Postgame Interview (Kacie Blanchet)
How It Happened
There was little suspense in the match, which lasted less than an hour, as KSC opened a 15-4 lead in the first set and then a 15-5 advantage in the second, compiling a 32-10 kills advantage in those two frames. In fact, the Owls had 15 kills to just one attacking miscue – hitting .452 – in the second as they found the floor routinely while handing the Spartans a fifth consecutive loss. It was Keene State's third consecutive win and keeps them in fourth place in the LEC standings with three league matches to go, two of which are at home, and all of which are against teams below them in the standings. The Owls are tied at 3-2 with the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, but own the tiebreaker thanks to a 3-2 road win over the Corsairs this past Saturday. Stake, who had 15 kills in that match, picked up right where she left off by putting up six in the first frame tonight on just 11 swings. Wetherbee had four on seven tries and
Sydney Johnson three on six total attempts as KSC took the opening set 25-13. The Owls scored seven of the first nine – five on kills, one on an ace, and one on a block, and then used an 8-0 burst with three Stake kills to go up double-digits for the first time. Castleton recorded three consecutive aces to make it 15-8, but KSC put up nine of the next 12 to go in front 24-11 and closed the set on another spike by Stake.
Keene State gashed the Spartans .342 to .000 to open the night, and the second set actually would up even more lopsided, as the Owls hit .452 and saw their hitters go errorless in what turned into another 25-13 win that was never in doubt. Two
Kacie Blanchet aces and kills from three different people had KSC up 5-0 right away, and that lead turned from four (9-5) to 10 (15-5) with a 6-0 Owl burst that featured four kills – two by Stake and two by Kroha – and a block. The Spartans were never closer than nine after that, and in fact recorded more than one point in a row just three times in the entire set. KSC went up 21-9 on an ace from Johnson, one of their 14 on the night as a team, and finished off a 21-12 edge by scoring four of the final six.
The Owls started a different group and shuffled lineups in the third set, but the end result did not ultimately change despite the Spartans hanging around for longer and leading for the first time when they tallied three of the opening four points. KSC piled up seven aces in the frame, with
Reagan Fleming,
Stephanie Olah, and Wetherbee having two each. The teams split the opening 24 points and tossed the lead back-and-forth, but a kill by Olah and team block by
Jessica Timothy and Wetherbee put Keene State up 14-12 and they were able to pull away from there, going in front 16-13 on an ace by Timothy. Castleton stayed within two on a KSC service error, but the Owls put up five in a row after to deny the visitors any chance of winning a set in the head-to-head matchup for the first time in five all-time meetings. The Spartans' only previous visit to Keene was in the 2020 season that had to be played in the spring of 2021 and saw just five LEC teams playing. They are still in search of their first league win, having joined in 2018.
Wetherbee (.455 pct.) and Kroha (.500 pct.) each had six kills, while Johnson had five on only nine attempts, her third lowest number of tries this season (all in matches KSC swept). Fleming finished with 12 digs and
Kacie Blanchet 22 assists, three digs, two aces, two kills, and two block assists.
Hailey Martinovich had seven kills, five digs, and four aces to pace Castleton, who was held under .100 hitting for the 11th match this season.
Service Aces
- Stake has 37 kills over her last four matches (13 sets).
- Blanchet entered the night with 499 assists on the season and now has 521 overall. The 10th-most among Owls individually in a career in that category is 956.
- KSC is 5-1 when hitting over .200 this season and 4-4 at Spaulding Gymnasium.
Up Next
- Keene State hosts the University of Massachusetts-Boston (5-14, 1-4 LEC) on Saturday, October 15 for a 1:00 p.m. start. The Beacons were outhit .220 to .094 at home by UMass-Dartmouth tonight and fell 3-0, being swept for the fourth league loss in a row.
- Castleton completes the second half of a back-to-back at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (11-6, 3-1 MASCAC) tomorrow (Thursday, October 13) at 6:00 p.m.
