KEENE, N.H. – Senior outside hitter
Sydney Johnson powered down a team-high 17 kills on .361 hitting while junior
Veronica Kroha had 11 on a .375 percentage as the Keene State College women's volleyball team hit over .200 for the fourth consecutive match – running their winning streak to that many in a row – in a 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-22, 25-23) Little East Conference win over the University of Massachusetts-Boston Saturday afternoon at Spaulding Gymnasium.
Records
- Keene State: 7-12, 4-2 LEC
- UMass-Boston: 5-15, 1-5 LEC
Postgame Interview (Coach Weiner)
Postgame Interview (Sydney Johnson)
How It Happened
In a match that saw teams trade momentum quite a bit, it was the last swing that was the decisive factor as the Owls – after leading 10-5 in the fourth set and forcing an early UMB timeout – erased deficits of 19-15, 20-17, and 21-19 to finish off a four-set victory. The Beacons went on an 8-1 run in the frame to flip around what had been a five-point deficit and seemed as though they were going to force a fifth set in their first visit to Keene in four years, but KSC had other ideas. After Amelia Devlin's kill had UMB ahead by two (21-19) a well-timed 5-0 run that featured a pair of kills each for Kroha and Johnson suddenly had the Owls at match point with a 24-21 lead. Two straight attacking errors brought UMass-Boston within one as they attempted a last-ditch rally with their LEC tournament hopes fading to some extent, but Johnson picked a perfect spot on the ensuing point to lock up Keene State's win.
Johnson's 17 spikes were six shy of her season and career-high set September 22 at Wellesley College. Her arm was not needed much in the Owls' last two three-set wins, lowering her kill total, but returned today as she attacked at a season-best .361 on 36 total swings. Kroha's 11 kills were one more than her previous season-best, and established a new career mark in that category while adding seven digs.
Gigi Stake now has 47 kills over the last five matches after putting up 10 today. In KSC's last three league wins, she has 34 kills. Those victories combined with results around the league have made for an interesting race to the finish in the final two weeks, with five teams now within a game and a half of each other.
The fact that UMass-Boston came close to forcing a fifth set was somewhat surprising given how the opening three sets played out, as KSC never trailed in two of them. They began the day with a 25-17 win, outhitting the visitors .250 to .109. The Owls scored the opening four and seven of the first 10 points and had a response anytime UMass-Boston narrowed the gap. After the Beacons trimmed a five-point deficit to two twice, KSC scored five out of seven to go back up five and then, after leading 20-17, scored the last five on a block, two kills, and an ace.
UMB had their best attacking percentage of any set (.312) to even the match at one as they took a 13-9 edge after five straight points and then put up another 5-0 burst to turn a 20-20 tie into a set win. KSC had rebounded to retake a 17-16 lead, but could not slow down the Beacons' offense. UMass-Boston also had the only three blocks of the frame.
The Owls bounced back quickly, as they thoroughly outhit the Beacons in the final two sets and had answers most every time they needed them. In the third, KSC again never trailed, going up 5-2 on a kill from
Molly Wetherbee. Consecutive swings from Johnson and Stake made it 9-6, and later a UMB error put the Owls up 13-9. The visitors rallied, forcing the only tie of the set at 17 after three points in a row that culminated with an ace from Toni Guerra, but Kroha and Johnson were there to put up two quick points right after. Another swing by Johnson and a
Kacie Blanchet ace put KSC in front 22-19, and despite the pesky Beacons getting within one two more times after that, two kills by
Cassidy Samuelson gave her team the match lead for the second time. The Beacons actually had 17 spikes to KSC's 14 in the set, but were outhit .314 to .222.
Despite UMass-Boston coming from behind to threaten to steal the fourth set, the Owls emerged by holding them to just .095 attacking while connecting at a .200 percentage themselves. Johnson, Stake, and Kroha each had four hills, with Kroha and Stake committing just two miscues in the process.
Samuelson finished with nine kills and .219 hitting. Blanchet had an impressive 40-assist, 10-dig, three ace effort, while
Reagan Fleming had 15 digs.
Livia Trindade paced UMass-Boston with 18 kills and hit at a .371 clip, while Taryn Broughal had 11 (.185 pct.) as the Beacons fell to 1-6 away from the Clark Athletic Center this season.
Service Aces
Up Next
- Keene State has a pair of non-conference home matches this week, beginning with a visit from Rivier University (17-4, 7-0 GNAC) on Tuesday, October 18 at 7:00 p.m. The Raiders have won six conference matches in a row since an October 4 straight set loss at LEC opponent Plymouth State University.
- UMass-Boston visits Amherst College (9-6, 5-3 NESCAC) on the same night for a 7:00 p.m. start.
