CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Keene State College women's volleyball team was limited to a .010 hitting percentage and finished with a 52-to-50 kill-to-error ratio as they dropped a pair of matches to Bowdoin College 3-1 (25-16, 20-25, 25-13, 25-15) and Endicott College 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-14) on the second day of the MIT Invitational Saturday at the Rockwell Cage.

Records

• Keene State:  1-3
• Bowdoin:  2-2
• Endicott:  5-0

How It Happened – Bowdoin
The Owls rebounded from a 25-16 defeat in the opening set of the day with a 25-20 win in the second to even the match, but were outhit .400 to .-241 in a swing third set and never recovered in a 3-1 loss.  Bowdoin got off to a sizzling start right away, racking up 18 kills against just two errors in a first frame that saw them pull away late, tallying nine of the final 12 points.  KSC led 8-7 after a kill by Kacie Blanchet and it was tied at nine after a kill by Jessica Timothy, but three straight kills and an Owl error gave the Polar Bears the lead for good.

Keene State answered, scoring the opening four points of the second while sprinting out to an 8-3 lead on two kills and two aces.  Bowdoin put up three straight to get within 8-6, but then watched the Owls do the same to go up five in what eventually turned into a 17-11 lead as the Polar Bears never led in the set and burned both of their timeouts in that span.  Leading 19-15, a pair of kills by first year Annaliese Rudberg and two aces from Grace Christian accounted for KSC's third run of at least four straight in the frame while putting them in firm control up 23-15, which they finished off from there.

An ace, two kills, and a Bowdoin error helped Keene State jump out to a 4-0 lead for the second consecutive set in the third of a tied match, but the momentum changed rapidly from there as the Polar Bears notched seven straight to go in front 7-4.  The Owls seemed to steady themselves, staying within one at 13-12 after a kill by Molly Wetherbee and 15-13 on a spike from Sydney Johnson.  However, they never scored again as Bowdoin – after already having a run of seven straight – managed to top that by putting up the final 12 points.  Keene State had a blocking error and five attacking errors in the deflating stretch, which translated to the fourth set as a 2-1 Owl lead turned into a 5-2 deficit.  Then, a 6-5 hole morphed into a whopping 20-6 deficit.  After tying the match at one, KSC made 20 attacking miscues and Bowdoin seven over what turned out to be the final two sets.

Jenna Robbins (.241 pct.) and Lauren Lange (.471 pct.) each had 10 kills to lead the NESCAC's Polar Bears.  Sarah Evans added eight.

Johnson paced the Owls with 10 spikes, five digs, and two block assists.  Rudberg had seven kills, while Christian had seven digs and five aces.  KSC was outhit .331 to .007.

How It Happened – Endicott
The Owls improved defensively, holding Endicott to a season-low .163 hitting percentage in the second match of the day, but remained stuck on offense, hitting .012 (19 kills, 18 errors) as they fell victim to a 25-13, 25-20, 25-14 sweep from the Gulls, who they had swept decisively last year 25-16, 26-24, 25-14 at the same venue while hitting .425 (40 kills, six errors).  Endicott themselves had hit .319 in that match, but that remained over 100 points lower than KSC.  Today was a different story, as the Gulls raced out to an 18-7 lead after scoring eight consecutive points – another long run allowed by the Owls – and never trailed by more than two points at any point in the match.

In the second set, Keene State got consecutive blocks and a kill from Cassidy Samuelson to take a 14-13 advantage, but this time it was a 7-0 run that altered the complexion of the set, giving Endicott a 20-14 lead, which never dipped below four after that.  Unfortunately for KSC, the third frame followed a similar script.  The Owls scored six of the opening 10 points and were locked in an 11-11 tie after a swing from Wetherbee, but two consecutive errors (one attacking, one ball handling) put Endicott ahead to stay.  Their lead bulged to 20-12, and the run culminated at 14-3 as the Owls fell in three.

Rudberg and Johnson led KSC with five kills, with Rudberg hitting .200 and also adding seven digs.  Wetherbee and Samuelson had four spikes.

Krystina Schueler paced Endicott with nine spikes, while Amanda Gilbert added eight and Colleen McAvoy seven.  Gilbert had a 17-kill (.429 pct.) performance in the Gulls' 3-1 victory over No. 10 MIT earlier in the day, and wound up being the Most Valuable Player of the invitational.

Service Aces

• The Owls are hitting .088 through the season's opening four matches.  Blanchet (.385) and Wetherbee (.262) have the team's highest hitting percentages.
• Rudberg piled up 12 kills and 12 digs on the day, while Christian had six aces.
• KSC has dropped three straight to Bowdoin since a win at Spaulding Gymnasium in 2014.  They also fell to the eventual NESCAC champion Polar Bears 3-1 last year at MIT.  The Owls and Endicott have split their last four meetings spanning nine seasons.

Up Next

• The Owls head back to Massachusetts on Tuesday (September 13), this time visiting Auburndale for the first time ever to take on Lasell University (3-5) at 7:00 p.m.
• Endicott is off until Friday, September 16 when they travel a long way from home – to Thousand Oaks, California – for the California Lutheran University Invitational.  Their first match in the Golden State is against nationally top-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (7-0) at 9:00 p.m. ET.
• Bowdoin opens conference play at home against Bates College (3-1) on the same day at 6:00 p.m.