KEENE, N.H. – Cassidy Samuelson finished with 11 kills and no errors, hitting .524, and Sydney Johnson added 10 kills of her own to go along with seven digs as the Keene State College women's volleyball team never trailed in dispatching Rhode Island College with ease, 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-18) on Senior Day Saturday afternoon at Spaulding Gymnasium.  The win, combined with the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth's 3-0 sweep at Eastern Connecticut State University, locks up the No. 2 seed and a first round bye in the LEC tournament for KSC.

Records

• Keene State:  11-14, 6-2 LEC
• Rhode Island College:  7-15, 2-6 LEC

Postgame Interview (Coach Weiner)
Postgame Interview (Sydney Johnson)

How It Happened
KSC was in firm control throughout, outhitting RIC .320 to .129 while never trailing in the match, which also featured only three ties, two of which came in the opening set (at 5-5 and 11-11).  Johnson and Samuelson each had five kills in the first as the Owls hit a match-high .343 in the frame, pulling away from the last tie to take a 19-15 edge on a block from Veronica Kroha and Kacie Blanchet.  Swings from Johnson and Samuelson put KSC up five (22-17), and a kill by Gigi Stake brought up set point at 24-18.  Samuelson fittingly closed the set with one more spike, and the Owls were on their way from there.  The only tie of the second set came at 1-1, as KSC then scored nine of the next 12 points to quickly push in front 10-4 on a point by Kroha, who had an impressive outing with seven kills on .400 hitting and two block assists.  The Owls' lead never dropped below three from there, and once it was at that mark (12-9), they immediately answered with three in a row of their own for a 15-9 edge, which became 17-10 on a block by Blanchet and Molly Wetherbee and an ace from Blanchet.  Keene State was first to 20, getting a kill from Stake to go up seven, and then wrapped up a 25-17 set win that put them up 2-0 in the match on kills from Kroha and Johnson on three of the final four points.  Rhode Island College was limited to seven kills and six errors, being outhit .324 to .029 in the second, the most lopsided margin of the day.

The third frame was much more of the same, as the Owls forced a timeout by the Anchorwomen after scoring the first five points in a row and then kept them at arms length the rest of the way.  After RIC scored four straight out of the stoppage, a kill from Wetherbee and ace by Johnson pushed the lead back to 8-4, and it eventually widened to 13-7 on three straight Owl kills from three different players (Samuelson, Stake, Kroha).  Johnson and Kroha blocked Sydnee Pires to make it a set-high seven-point advantage (16-9).  Rhode Island College did have one final last gasp effort, going on a 7-2 burst to draw within two thanks mostly to Amelia Murphy and Angelly Polanco, but the arms of Samuelson and Kroha scored three of four to put KSC in front 21-17.  Stake, a service ace, and two RIC errors wrapped up the match as KSC scored the final four points.  Rhode Island College was held under 20 in all three sets for the fourth time this season.

Samuelson added four digs to her 11 kill total, while Johnson also had seven digs and two aces.  Blanchet finished with 39 assists, six digs, two aces, and two kills, while Reagan Fleming tallied a match-high 14 digs.

Murphy paced RIC with 10 kills (.172 pct.) and eight digs, but was the lone member of her team in double-digits in the former category.  Rhiannon Hodovanec had six kills, but hit -.038.  The Anchorwomen were eliminated from postseason contention when, less than an hour after their match ended, the University of Massachusetts-Boston swept last place Castleton University 3-0 to claim the sixth and final playoff spot.

Service Aces

• The Owls honored Johnson, their senior captain, Samuelson, and team managers Patrick Cohen and Osahon Airewele for their contributions to the program before the match.
• Blanchet leads the conference in assists with 790 at the conclusion of the regular season and has 1,928 for her career, good for sixth on the all-time KSC career list.  Laurie Whalen '11 is in fifth with 2,381.  Johnson will finish fourth in the conference in total kills (264).  Anna Barry of Eastern Connecticut leads with 296.  Fleming is second in digs in the LEC, with 381.
• KSC is 24-8 all-time against Rhode Island College, including 12-2 at home.
• Keene State's win guaranteed them at least the No. 3 seed, but they moved up one more spot in the final standings because Eastern Connecticut finished the regular season with their fourth consecutive loss, the last three by sweeps.  UMass-Dartmouth, who had lost 12 straight against the Warriors, finished 6-2 in league play, but KSC won the tiebreaker thanks to a 3-2 road win over the Corsairs earlier this month.

Up Next

• The Owls have a bye into the LEC semifinals and will play the winner of Tuesday's quarterfinal between aforementioned UMass-Dartmouth, the No. 3 seed, or sixth-seeded University of Massachusetts-Boston on Thursday (November 3) at 7:00 p.m.  The other quarterfinal features Eastern Connecticut and Western Connecticut State University, with the winner to travel to Plymouth State University on Thursday night.  The Panthers won the LEC regular season last weekend, sweeping ECSU.  Their only conference loss came 3-0 at the hands of KSC.
• Rhode Island College's season is over.  They finished 3-9 on the road and have not qualified for the Little East tournament since 2018, when they beat Western Connecticut on the road in the quarterfinals before losing at Eastern in the semifinals.