KEENE, N.H. – Sydney Johnson and Cassidy Samuelson combined for an efficient 23 kills and four Owls had double-digit digs as the Keene State College women's volleyball team continued a busy week with a bounce-back win, wearing down Western New England University 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-19) in non-conference action Thursday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Records

• Keene State:  8-13
• Western New England:  14-11

Postgame Interview (Coach Weiner)
Postgame Interview (Gigi Stake)

How It Happened
After hitting their lowest percentage in more than a month Tuesday night against Rivier University, KSC bounced back tonight, returning to more recent form as they connected at a .222 clip in their fifth straight set victory of the season (four since September 28).  Beyond the offensive attack, the Owls also made strides in other areas, putting up a plus-13 (67-54) edge in digs and a 9-2 advantage in blocks.  The Golden Bears lost the first set despite hitting .389 (16 kills, two errors), but were then progressively stuffed by Keene State, being limited to a .114 mark in the second set and a .039 mark in what turned out to be the third and final frame.  Unsurprisingly, the Owls' dig total increased each time, going from 17 to 22 to 28.  WNE's Sarah Scott, their offensive leader, piled up six kills on nine total swings in the opening set, but then had just nine over her next 35 attacks. 

Meanwhile, KSC's balanced offensive attack featured different contributors throughout.  Gigi Stake had six kills and three digs in the opening set while Johnson added five of her own.  Cassidy Samuelson, after having three kills in the first, punished down seven on only 13 swings in the second as the Owls took firm command of the match.  Johnson then came back with six more spikes and three digs in the third, a set KSC dominated for the vast majority of time before a fledgling WNE push late.  Reagan Fleming had 13 digs over the final two sets after having two in the opener, while Johnson had eight after only one in the first.

Despite the Golden Bears' gaudy hitting percentage number early, they led just one time by one point (11-10) in the opening set.  The key moments of the first likely came when Stake notched three consecutive kills to turn what was a 14-14 tie into a 17-14 Owl lead.  WNE answered with three straight to tie, and there were three further ties after that (12 in the set in all) before two straight swings by Samuelson gave KSC a 22-20 edge.  The Golden Bears were within one three times after that, but kills by Samuelson and Stake answered each time as the Owls eventually took the set 25-23.

The second set was playing out in the exact opposite fashion, with Western New England riding a strong start to what appeared would be a match-evening win.  However, Keene State flipped momentum in the match by scoring eight of 11 points in a key stretch that helped erase a 17-13 deficit and flip it into a 21-20 lead, culminating with a block by Molly Wetherbee and Johnson.  The blocking would ultimately become a theme late, but to wrap up a key second set win for a 2-0 lead in the match, the Owls turned to Samuelson, who powered down feeds from Kacie Blanchet on their final three points.  Her first two spikes brought up set point at 24-21, and after Western New England drew within one, the final one closed out another 25-23 final.

After very narrow margins in the opening two frames despite KSC leading 2-0 in the match, the third set was mostly dominated by the Owls, who moved out to a 7-0 lead on two blocks and two kills in the early-going, including one stuff of a second-ball try by Taylor Geist, who had succeeded with that play on more than one occasion earlier in the match.  Another block by Samuelson and Wetherbee still had Keene State up 9-2, and two kills by Stake and an ace for Grace Christian later made it 13-4.  The Owls' match-high lead came at 11 (16-5) after two straight swings from Johnson.  Two more of the Owls' six blocks in the set kept them in front 18-8, and Samuelson's arm put KSC in front 20-10 moments later, but it was not entirely smooth to finish, as WNE scored seven of eight points to draw within a manageable four (21-17) and force an Owl timeout.  However, out of that stoppage, the Golden Bears served into the net, and after they again made it a four-point set, Johnson fired down two more kills to make it 24-18 and bring up match point.  KSC was taken out of sorts on the first try at closing it out, but Johnson closed out her team-leading kill evening on the very next rally as the Owls polished off a bounce back victory.

Johnson finished with 12 kills and hit .267 for Keene State while Samuelson had 11 and swing at a .333 clip.  Stake added nine kills and 10 digs.

Western New England was paced by 15 kills from Scott on .182 hitting, though six came in the opening set as the Owls began snuffing out her attempts after that.

Service Aces

• Keene State is now 7-1 when hitting higher than .200 this season tonight.  Tonight, they outhit WNE .222 to .160, including .229 to .039 in the third set.
• The Owls have won three straight in the head-to-head series for the first time, which is led by the Golden Bears 8-5.
• The win was KSC head coach Bob Weiner's 599th of his career.  He needs just one more to become the 16th active Division III coach with 600 career victories.

Up Next

• Keene State is back at it on Saturday with their penultimate conference match of the season as they visit the University of Southern Maine (4-16, 2-4 LEC) at 12:00 p.m.  The Owls can likely assure themselves a home LEC tournament match of some kind by winning their final two league matchups, though as many as five teams could finish tied with each other as of now.
• Western New England has three CCC matches left, starting with a home clash with Roger Williams University (5-17, 1-5 CCC) on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.