NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. – First year outside hitter Gigi Stake set a career best with 15 kills on .256 hitting and junior libero Reagan Fleming posted a career-high of her own with 35 digs as the Keene State College women's volleyball team nipped the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth 3-2 (25-15, 17-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-13) in a Little East Conference contest Saturday at the Tripp Athletic Center.  The Owls then had no trouble dispatching three-win Dean College in three (25-17, 25-8, 25-16) to win back-to-back matches for the first time this season.

Gigi Stake 15 Kills

Records

• Keene State:  5-12, 2-2 LEC
• UMass-Dartmouth:  13-6, 2-2 LEC
• Dean:  3-18

Quotable

• "That (UMass-Dartmouth) was obviously the biggest match of the year for us.  It puts us into position to host in the first round of the playoffs, and that means a lot.  Terrific play from lots of the women.  Reagan Fleming's career-high in digs was a highlight, as was Gigi Stake's team and career-high 15 kills.  We've been waiting for Gigi to step up, and it appears she is ready." – Keene State head coach Bob Weiner.

How It Happened - UMass-Dartmouth
In a see-saw match that saw the teams alternate set wins, it was ultimately the Owls that came through with a big finishing push, erasing an 8-3 deficit in the decisive fifth set by scoring 12 of the final 17 points.  KSC hit a sizzling .588 and made just one error in that frame, outdoing a Corsair team that hit .474 themselves.  Stake had a match-best four kills and no miscues on just seven swings in the fifth, a fitting culmination of an effort that nearly doubled her previous season and career-best of eight kills.  The Bedford, N.H. native added nine digs, barely missing a double-double.  With her team in need of a spark in a 2-2 match, Stake put down a kill and served an ace to trim what the aforementioned five-point deficit to 8-5, after which she served for three more KSC points in a row, two of which ended on Sydney Johnson kills for an 8-8 tie.  UMass-Dartmouth took a pair of one-point leads thereafter, but Molly Wetherbee's spike and then a team block from the Owl middle and Cassidy Samuelson put Keene State in front 11-10.  The Corsairs tied it once more, but Johnson answered with a kill and Stake tacked on two more to her total to bring up match point.  UMD made things interesting, getting within one on a kill and a KSC error, but Johnson dug out a ball by Gabriella Monico before Blanchet set up Stake, who punished the home team one more time to end the match.

The fifth set comeback washed away what could have been a bitter taste for Keene State, who had leads of 6-0 and 10-3 in the fourth before watching them both disappear.  In fact, UMass-Dartmouth did not lead at all until Maggie Sullivan's swing made it 22-21.  Chelsea Sander put the Corsairs up two on the next rally, and despite consecutive kills for the Owls, a Devon Laing kill and Sanker block on the ensuing points, UMD improbably forced a fifth set.  Ultimately, the Corsairs went from trailing by as many as seven (10-3) and by six at 19-13 in the fourth to leading the fifth 8-3, but KSC rebounded just in the nick of time.

There was not nearly as much volatility early, with the team that started fast ultimately closing out set wins with relative ease.  Off a tough offensive showing on Wednesday night at home in a non-conference loss, the Owls were the far superior team in the opening set, outhitting UMD .212 to -.081 in a 25-15 victory while never trailing.  KSC scored 10 of the opening 15 points and led 12-6 after two spikes in a row for Johnson.  Molly Wetherbee, who had 10 kills and hit .350, connected for one to make it 16-9 before Stake put the Owls in front 19-13.  Keene State scored six of the last eight to win by double-digits.  UMass-Dartmouth controlled the second to even the match, riding an early five-point (8-3) edge to an eventual 25-17 win as the Owls sunk down to .000 hitting in that frame.  KSC got as close as three (15-12) after facing a 14-6 deficit, but seven kills, two aces, and a block down the stretch gave the Corsairs the match tie.

Stake had three kills early in the third as the Owls came charging out of the gates with an 8-2 lead that they ultimately never relinquished thanks to a 14-to-2 kill to error ratio that resulted in a .273 attack percentage (to UMD's .115).  Leading 15-8 after another kill by Stake and 18-12 after a UMass-Dartmouth error, KSC saw their lead trimmed down to two three times, but answered each time, the last of which with Samuelson's kill and an ace by Grace Christian to lock up a 25-21 set that put them back ahead in the match.  It seemed they ultimately would close it out in four, with Cassidy Samuelson and Wetherbee powering down three straight kills for a 17-11 lead and Stake another to make it 20-15, but UMD came storming back, setting the stage for a nail-biting finish.

Johnson finished with 11 kills on .133 hitting, while Samuelson had nine kills and swung at a .269 percentage.  In addition to Fleming's 35 digs, she added six assists.  Blanchet had 40 helpers as KSC finished with a .208 attack percentage, the third highest UMass-Dartmouth has allowed to an opponent this year.

Maggie Sullivan had 13 kills on .524 hitting to lead the Corsairs in efficiency, while Kate Wade had 15 spikes, but on 60 swings (.083 pct.).  Emily Pogolorec recoded 33 digs, with the two teams combining for 193 (97-96 KSC).

How It Happened – Dean
After the emotions of an important LEC match, the Owls had no trouble dispatching the struggling Bulldogs, outhitting them .286 to .013 to cruise to 25-17, 25-8, 25-16 set wins.  It marked KSC's first back-to-back victories of the season leading into a four-match homestand that begins Wednesday.  The Owls did trail 10-5 in the opening frame, but went on a 12-3 run to turn that deficit into a 17-13 lead and eventually led by as many as nine before closing out the set.  Keene State scored the first six of a completely lopsided second set, as the Bulldogs were held to just eight points total.  Ahead 10-6, the Owls ran away by scoring 15 of the final 17, leading by as many as 17.  KSC then closed out a sweep with a very similar fourth, opening an 8-3 advantage that ballooned to 14-6 on a kill from Ainsley Hegg.  Veronica Kroha and Hegg had the Owls in front 21-14 later with two straight spikes, and the former had an ace and the latter a block later for the final points of the day.

Keene State never trailed in either of the final two sets and, in fact, after falling behind by that five-point deficit very early in the first, outscored Dean 70-31 the rest of the way.

The Owls, who most everybody action in the match, got a team-best six kills from Samuelson (.308 pct.) and Stephanie Olah (.455 pct.).  Stake tacked on five kills, five digs, and a .300 pct. to her standout day, while Wetherbee had five kills and hit .625.

Lena Muraski, Sari Albury, and Jordan Herivaux were the Bulldogs' kill leaders with four each.

Service Aces

• KSC has hit .208 or higher as a team in four of their last five matches.
• The Owls recorded a season-high 13 blocks in the match against UMD, having a plus-seven advantage in that category.
• Stake has 28 kills over her last three matches (11 sets).
• Keene State is 21-8 all-time against UMass-Dartmouth, winning 18 of the last 19 meetings overall.  The Owls' meeting with Dean was the first ever between the programs.
• UMD swept Dean 3-0, holding them to five and six points in the final two sets, in the day's final match.  The Corsairs had a 53-10 kills advantage and outhit the Bulldogs .388 to .012.

Up Next

• The Owls continue conference action Wednesday (October 12) at home against Castleton University (4-13, 0-4 LEC) at 7:00 p.m.  KSC's remaining four LEC matches are all against teams below them in the standings, three of them at home.  The lone remaining league match on the road is at the University of Southern Maine on October 22.  There is currently a three-way tie for first in the LEC with Plymouth State University, Eastern Connecticut State University, and Western Connecticut State University all at 4-1.  PSU, who KSC beat in three, swept WCSU 3-0 today in Plymouth.
• UMass-Dartmouth travels to the University of Massachusetts-Boston (5-13, 1-3 LEC) on the same night (7:00 p.m). 
• Dean is off until Friday, October 14 when they host St. Joseph's College (Maine) in a GNAC matchup at 7:30 p.m.