KEENE, N.H. – Regis College compiled 19 kills against 13 attacking errors for a hitting percentage of just .073 in the opening two sets of Wednesday night's women's volleyball match at Spaulding Gymnasium.  The problem, however, for Keene State College was they hit at an even lower -.026 clip and made 21 attacking miscues in that same span as they lost 3-1 (21-25, 18-25, 25-22, 22-25) to the Pride for their second straight loss and fifth in the past six matches.

Records

• Keene State:  3-12
• Regis (Mass.):  10-9

Postgame Interview (Coach Weiner)

How It Happened
In their first match of the week – and coming off a pair of key conference matches over the past five days – KSC scored four of the first five points in the mid-week non-conference match to take a very early 4-1 lead.  Regis answered by scoring six of the next seven to take a two-point (7-5) edge and the Owls never led after that until the third set when they were already facing a sizable 2-0 deficit in the match.

The Pride's run in the opening frame culminated at 8-2 as they doubled up KSC quickly, at 12-6, after two aces by Rita Dow and two bills by Kamdyn Tenorio.  The Owls were still down 14-8 when they rattled off nine of the next 12 to force a 17-17 tie despite just seven of those points coming on kills, seemingly giving them at least a chance to snatch a lead despite erratic offense.  However, consecutive miscues out of a Regis timeout gave the Pride momentum again, and they eventually took a 23-20 lead on a kill by Ahnasia Mckinney.  Sydney Johnson made the KSC deficit two again with her own swing, but Kate Montigny's kill and then another Owl error gave Regis the set, one in which they hit .050 to Keene State's -.026.

The second frame was the nadir of the match for the Owls, who fell behind 3-0, 6-1, and a long while later 20-7 as they never had a lead.  Ayla Albers' error gave KSC their first point at 3-1, but then connected on the next rally for a kill prior to consecutive aces from Aryam Serrano-Monserrate, both of which hit the ground between Owl players.  Later, the blocking game for the Pride provided a pair of points around a spike from Tenorio for an 11-3 Regis advantage.   The visitors ran off five more in a row soon after, going up 18-5 on two kills, two KSC errors, and a solo block by Montigny.  The Owls scored six straight to chop what was a 13-point deficit to seven and then got as close as 21-15 on a kill from Veronica Kroha, only to see the hopes dashed quickly as Regis scored three in a row, two on Keene State miscues (one setting, one attacking).  A service error by the Owls wrapped up a 25-18 second set in which they were outhit .095 to -.027.

It was not looking good again in the third, as Regis moved out to leads of 8-4 and 10-5 aided by a pair of aces on the first two points and then five subsequent kills.  This time, though, KSC stopped the snowball and reeled off a 5-0 burst to wipe out a 12-7 lead and then retook their own avantage at 14-13 on an ace by Johnson.  First year Gigi Stake tacked on two spikes right after as the Owls went up three, and they pulled away from there, going up 22-16 on a kill, block, and ace.  Theresa Norris' ace brought up set point at 24-17 – and despite the Pride scoring five in a row – Johnson kept KSC in it with a kill.

The Owls again started slowly in the fourth (trailing 7-3), rebounded (led 12-9, 14-11, and 15-13), and then saw the visitors rally, but this time the set would not end in happyfashion as Regis' 11-4 run that flipped a 14-11 deficit into a 22-18 lead proved to be the match-changer ultimately.  KSC got the serve back after Mckinney's errant attack tied it at 16, but then served into the net on the very next point to give the Pride the lead back, and despite Stake responding with a kill, the Owls never did lead again.  In fact, after Montigny and Tenorio combined for three straight spikes to put Regis ahead by the aforementioned four-point margin, KSC never had a chance to tie after that, only getting as close as 24-22 before an attack error ended the match.

The Owls rebounded to compile 28 kills against nine errors over the final two sets, but the Pride had 24 kills and eight errors themselves.  As KSC attempted to try to dig out of the 2-0 match deficit, they were hindered substantially by allowing nine aces in the final two sets (14 overall).

Johnson finished with 13 kills (.303 pct.), six digs, and two aces to pace KSC.  Kroha had 10 spikes and connected at a .318 clip, while Stake had a career-best eight kills in her very young career.  Reagan Fleming recorded 21 digs and seven assists, while Kacie Blanchet had 34 helpers and 15 digs.

Tenorio finished with 13 kills on .303 hitting for Regis, while Albers had nine on a .348 percentage.  The two combined for 20 kills against only two errors as the Pride ended a three-match losing streak.

Service Aces

• The 30 attacking errors were the second most in a match this season for the Owls.
• It was the first meeting between the teams since 2000, a 3-0 KSC win in Providence, R.I.

Up Next

• Keene State visits the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (11-5, 2-1 LEC) on Saturday (October 8) at 12:00 p.m.  Dean College (3-16, 1-6 GNAC) will also be at the tri-match, with the Owls taking them on at 2:00 p.m.
• Regis is back at it tomorrow - Thursday night, October 6 - when they travel to face Framingham State University (11-7, 2-1 MASCAC) for a 7:00 p.m. start.