WELLESLEY, Mass. – Senior outside hitter Sydney Johnson set a new career-high with 23 kills against just two errors and added 13 digs, but the Keene State College women's volleyball team could not hold leads of 11-6 and 14-12 in a decisive fifth set and wound up falling to Wellesley College 3-2 (22-25, 27-25, 26-28, 25-19, 18-20) in non-conference action Thursday night at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse.

Records

• Keene State:  2-8
• Wellesley:  4-6

How It Happened
In a match that saw three of five sets need extra points, Johnson established a new career-high in kills by seven (previous was 16) and the Owls recorded a season-high in aces with 12 (plus-five in that category) while having an 8-6 edge in blocks, but Wellesley set a season-best hitting mark of .245 – 17 points higher than their next closest mark – and had 78 kills.  The Blue had hit .028, .000, and .091 in their last three matches and were above .100 in a match just three times in nine matches entering the night.  In a decisive fifth set after KSC had won the second and fourth sets to twice erase deficits in the match, it was Wellesley who recorded a kill on 15 of 20 points to pull what seemed like a lost match out of the fire.  The Owls surrendered the opening point of the fifth, but scored four of the next five and nine of the next 13 to open up a 9-5 lead on a kill from Molly Wetherbee and a Wellesley attack error.  Wellesley got a kill from TylerBell Smith out of a timeout to get within three, but was forced to call another timeout two points later after a serving error of their own and an ace from Kacie Blanchet that made it 11-6.  Out of the stoppage, Smith had three kills and Jennifer Yu another as part of a 5-0 burst that suddenly tied it at 11 as Keene State's lead went away quickly.  Even still, the Owls seemed to be in good shape when a kill from Veronica Kroha and serving and setting errors by the Blue set up match point for KSC at 14-12.  It never came.  In fact, three straight points for Wellesley gave them a chance to end the match, leading in the set for the first time since it was 1-0.  They could not that time, as Cassidy Samuelson notched a kill to even it at 15, and the Owls actually fended off match point three other times on a kill by Wetherbee and two Blue errors, but the final tie (18-18) was broken by two consecutive Rachel Xu kills.  After Keene State had their shot at closing out the match, they surrendered three straight and never did lead again.

The opening four sets were not much different, featuring wild swings in momentum throughout.  KSC came from four down midway through the opening set to take a 21-20 edge after scoring three in a row, but Wellesley scored five of the final six to take the early lead in the match.  In the second, KSC flipped around a 19-17 deficit into a 24-21 lead after kills from Johnson and Samuelson preceded consecutive aces from Kacie Blanchet.  They did ultimately close out the set, but not before falling behind 25-24.  Two errors by Wellesley sandwiching a Johnson ace rescured the Owls.  In a 1-1 match, it seemed the Blue were well on their way to a win in the third set as they led 21-11 only to see KSC come roaring back with six kills and four aces as part of a 13-3 surge that improbably tied it at 24.  However, the Owls could not finish off what would have been a momentum-changer, as Kate Salembier, Yu, and Kennedy Mayo helped the Blue rebound to close out the set on their third chance to do so.

KSC had forced a fifth set with their best showing all night in the fourth, a 25-19 win where they piled up 16 kills against only two miscues, hitting .500.  The Owls never trailed in forcing the match to the distance, going up 4-1 on spikes by Kroha and Stephanie Olah.  Olah had another kill to make it 9-6, and a point by Johnson and ace from Fleming later put KSC went in command up seven (13-6).  Wellesley got as close as two down the stretch, but Wetherbee and Johnson accounted for three kills in a four-point span to push the edge back to 23-17, which the Owls closed out from there.  The fifth set trended in the same direction, but it wound up being a tough loss to stomach for KSC in the end as they remain in search of consecutive wins for the first time this season.

Beyond Johnson (.344 pct.), Samuelson finished with double-digit kills (12) and hit .258.  Kroha continues her efficient campaign, totaling nine spikes, five digs, and four block assists while hitting .304.  Four Owls had double-digit digs, paced by 25 from Fleming.  Blanchet had 52 assists, 14 digs, and three aces.

Wellesley, who saw eight of their ten players see action, had five record double-digit kills, paced by a team-leading 17 from Salembier (.118).

Service Aces

• Kroha has 26 kills against only three miscues in her last three matches (13 sets).
• Opponents are hitting .204 against KSC this season.
• The Owls have dropped three straight against Wellesley.  In last year's meeting in Keene, the Blue won 3-0 thanks to 24 kills from then-senior Nicole Doerges.
• The Blue went 66-20 (24-6 NEWMAC) from 2017-2019, but are 13-17 (4-9 NEWMAC) since the start of the 2021 campaign.

Up Next

• KSC opens Little East Conference play with a road tri-match against Western Connecticut State University (2-7, 1-0 LEC) on Saturday (September 24) at 12:00 p.m.  The Owls will also take on Hunter College (4-2) at 2:00 p.m.
• Wellesley, who had lost three straight and four of five, hosts another LEC opponent Saturday when they take on the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (6-4, 0-1 LEC) on the same day at 11:00 a.m.