AUBURNDALE, Mass. – Senior outside hitter Sydney Johnson piled up 15 kills and hit .316, but the Keene State College women's volleyball team did not lead until late in the second set and eventually fell 3-0 (25-18, 27-25, 25-23) to Lasell University in non-conference action Tuesday night at the Athletic Center.

Records

• Keene State:  1-4
• Lasell:  4-5

Quotable

• "It was the best we have played this year so far.  Still some things to work on; we have plenty of time until the conference opener on the 24th.  Sydney Johnson and Reagan Fleming were excellent in the loss." – Keene State head coach Bob Weiner.

How It Happened
Slow starts for the Owls in each of the opening two sets proved to be too much to overcome in their first-ever visit to Auburndale and just the third-ever meeting against Lasell, as the Lasers hit at least .273 in every set (.286 in the match) and KSC .175.  Keene State allowed the first six points of the match and fell behind 9-2 right away, never getting any closer than four in the first frame as they finished a 25-18 defeat with 10 kills and nine errors (they had 27 kills and seven errors over the remainder of the match).  A Lasell error and kill by Veronica Kroha trimmed the Owl deficit to four (12-8) after they were down seven quickly, but the Lasers later scored four of five to go up 20-12 and eventually led by as many as nine while closing out the first with ease.

Six spikes and an ace early in the second put the Owls in a 7-3 hole, which eventually widened to 11-5 following kills by Lasell's Madalyn Scully and Emily Cerasani to go along with a KSC error.  Down 15-7 and in trouble after consecutive aces by McKenna McCool, led by Johnson, Keene State sprung to life, ripping off seven consecutive points to tie the set at 16.  Johnson had four kills and assisted on a block with Molly Wetherbee in that span.  Points from Wetherbee and Annaliese Rudberg put the Owls in front 18-17, their first lead of the match, and from there it was a tight battle to the finish.  Rudberg and Kristlynn Hunt made it 20-18, but Lasell scored three straight to go back in front by one.  KSC answered by doing that themselves for a 23-21 edge and brought up set point at 24-22 after a Kroha kill, but an Owl serving error and Lasell ace quickly tied it.  The Lasers hit the net on a serve themselves to give KSC another chance at closing it out, but they could not, as Camila Lopez, Scully, and Emily VanHouten notched three consecutive kills to snatch the set and take firm control of the match.  Second sets have not necessarily been the Owls' friend in recent matches, as they led then-No. 10 MIT 17-13 last Friday before falling 25-22 and led Endicott 14-13 before dropping a 25-20 frame.

KSC played from ahead in the third thanks to four aces (of their six total on the night) within their first eight points, as two straight from Johnson helped the Owls to a 4-0 lead before a pair from Kroha made it 8-3.  However, the Lasers hit back quickly, scoring seven of the next nine to tie it at 10, culminating with four kills in a five-point span.   After a Lasell serving error put KSC back in front 11-10, the home side then had three kills and an ace while scoring the next four for a 14-11 lead.  The run peaked at 11-3 as KSC went from up five to down three.  Two Johnson kills and a block by Kroha and Jessica Timothy tied it up once more (14-14), but three consecutive Owl errors (one service, two attacking) put the Lasers ahead to stay, as it turned out.  Keene State made a final push, trimming a six-point deficit to 24-23 and fending off set point twice, but McCool's kill ended their hopes.

Johnson added six digs and two aces to her night, which fell one kill shy of matching her career high from an LEC quarterfinal match against the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth last November.  Wetherbee and Kroha each finished with six spikes, combining for 12 against only three errors.  Reagan Fleming finished with 16 digs and Kacie Blanchet 33 assists, now needing just three to move up to ninth on KSC's all-time career list in that category.

Lasell, who won their second straight after losing three in a row and was picked fourth in the GNAC preseason poll, got 14 kills on .344 hitting from McCool.  Scully added eight spikes.  Maddie Caro (20) and Lopez combined for 35 digs.

Service Aces

• Johnson leads KSC in kills with 39 on the season.  Wetherbee is next with 23 and a .267 hitting percentage.
• The Owls were out-aced 11-6.  On the season, they are minus-16 (45-29) in that category.
• Keene State leads the series 2-1.  Entering tonight, they had beaten Lasell twice by a combined 6-1 score.

Up Next

• KSC begins a stretch of four consecutive matches at home by taking on Clark University (3-4, 1-0 NEWMAC) on Thursday night (September 15) at 7:00 p.m.  The Cougars snapped a four-match losing streak with a 3-1 win at Worcester Polytechnic Institute tonight.
• Lasell heads to an invitational in New York for a second consecutive weekend, starting with a matchup against host St. John Fisher College (2-3) on Friday at 3:00 p.m. before taking on Penn State University-Behrend (4-3) at 5:00.