DANBURY, Conn. – The Keene State College women's volleyball team saw a 20-17 lead in the first set of the day slip away and that wound up being a harbinger of things to come as they dropped matches to Little East Conference opponent Western Connecticut State University (25-23, 25-19, 25-23) and Hunter College (25-17, 25-16, 25-18) by 3-0 scores in a tri-match Saturday at Feldman Arena.

Records

• Keene State:  2-10, 0-1 LEC
• Western Connecticut:  4-7, 2-0 LEC
• Hunter:  5-3

How It Happened – Western Connecticut
Sydney Johnson built off a career-best performance Thursday night to tack on 12 more kills against just two errors (hitting .256) while Veronica Kroha (six kills, one error) hit .455 and Cassidy Samuelson (six kills, one error) .357, but the Owls were unable to slow down the Wolves' offense, as they hit .293 and had a 50-31 advantage in kills.  Slowing down the attack of opponents remains problematic for KSC, who has allowed a hitting percentage of at least .233 (the season-high mark for Wellesley two nights ago) in eight of 12 matches this season.  Anna Cascapera had a team-best 14 kills for WestConn while attacking at a .480 percentage and Abbi Debes tacked on 11 spikes while hitting .450 as the Wolves, who started the season 0-7, improved to 2-0 in league play.

"Western is a very good team.  They'll be competing for the LEC championship," said Keene State head coach Bob Weiner.  "They are experienced at setter and middle, and have the probable Rookie of the Year on the outside.  We didn't play a bad match against them, they just played better than us."

Early on, the Owls were getting what they wanted, as kills by Kroha and Samuelson helped open up a 5-2 lead in the first set before Johnson made it 7-4.  WestConn scored four in a row for their first lead of the day and eventually went up 13-10, but KSC answered with a 10-4 burst to take a 20-17 lead.  Tied at 20, the Keene State twice took one-point leads after swings by Johnson and Kroha, the last of which at 22-21, but two blocks around a kill by Cascapera gave the Wolves set point at 24-22.  Samuelson brought the Owls within one, but a service error gave WestConn the set.

After that, Keene State's only other lead came briefly in the third set.  The Owls never led in the second.  Following three early ties, WCSU ran off five in a row (three kills and one ace) for a 9-4 advantage that eventually became 13-6 after a kill from Helen Megson.  Down 18-10 after a kill by Elayna Beutel, KSC did make a late push as a pair of kills by Stephanie Olah helped slice the deficit down to 19-17 and forced a WestConn timeout, but two straight kills and an ace after restored a five-point lead for the home team.  A block by Molly Wetherbee and kill by Johnson made it 22-19, but the Wolves had no trouble closing out the set, getting two kills around an ace to take firm control of the match.
KSC used a 6-1 run early in the third to flip a three-point deficit into a 7-5 lead as Kroha and Samuelson accounted for three kills in that stretch, but they were mostly forced to play from behind while facing a 2-0 match deficit.  Blanchet set up Wetherbee for what proved to be the Owls' last lead at 10-9, with three straight WestConn kills after putting them back up two (12-10).  The Wolves steadily pulled away from there, going up 16-12 on a kill by Debes and a KSC attacking error.  Cascapera made it 18-14 with another spike, and Beutel did the same later to make it 21-15.  An Olah kill and Wetherbee block helped the Owls get within three at 22-19, and three straight kills – two by Johnson – forced WCSU into a timeout as KSC drew within one (23-22).  However, much like the first frame – and really the match overall – the Wolves got the points when they needed them as Megson's kill brought up match point.  Johnson responded with a swing, but Debes ended the match.

How It Happened – Hunter
The Owls were outhit by the Hawks .337 to .085 and out-aced 11-3 as they were swept to conclude the day.  Hunter compiled 37 kills against just eight errors – including a 25-to-4 kill-to-error ratio in the opening two sets – to cruise to a win in just their seventh match overall on the season.  Johnson finished with nine kills (.235 pct.), three digs, and two aces, while Samuelson chipped in five kills and Jessica Timothy three.  Kacie Blanchet had 15 assists and five digs, though KSC had nobody in double-digits in the later category.  Mariam Ouattara paced Hunter with 11 kills (on 15 swings for a .667 attack percentage) and Simone McIntyre had nine while attacking at a .471 percentage.  The .337 team attacking percentage was by far a season-high, surpassing their .284 mark against Wilkes College, and was the second-highest mark the Owls have surrendered all season.

KSC never led by more than two in the match (3-1 in the second set), and after splitting the opening 24 points of the first, saw Hunter take firm control quickly.  The Hawks pulled away in the opening frame by scoring five in a row to turn the 12-12 tie into a 17-12 lead, which became 19-13 on a kill by Ouattara.  McIntyre widened the gap to 22-15, and then three consecutive miscues (one setting, two attacking) by Keene State put them behind in the match.

After the Owls' match-high lead in the second, the Hawks scored five consecutive points and never trailed again.  In fact, that was the first of three times in the set they scored that many points in a row, eventually going up 17-6 after doing it twice more.  KSC trimmed a 21-8 deficit to seven with six straight, but only got as close as 22-16 on a block by Wetherbee and Timothy before three straight for Hunter, two attack errors and a kill by McIntyre, put them up 2-0 in the match.

Needing a set win to keep the day alive, Keene State never led in the third and saw the Hawks score 12 of the first 16 points.  Included in that span was an 8-1 run that turned an early 4-3 score into a 12-4 gap, which a short time later expanded to 18-7, the second consecutive set in which KSC faced a double-digit deficit before getting to 10 points themselves.  The Owls again did muster a run of their own, making it 19-13 on three kills by Samuelson in a five-point span and later 22-16 on a point from Theresa Norris, but it was again too late, as Hunter ended a 25-18 set win and the match with kills by McIntyre and Tionna Moss.

Service Aces

• Johnson is averaging a career-best three kills per set this season.  In her last three matches, she has piled up 44 kills against just nine errors while hitting .344, .256, and .235 respectively.
• The Owls' loss to WestConn snapped a nine-match winning streak in the series, which included sweeps in three of the past four.  In fact, KSC had won 19 of the past 21 head-to-head meetings entering the match.
• KSC has been outhit .220 to .132 on the season.
• WestConn swept Hunter in the day's final match.

Up Next

• Keene State returns home to host Plymouth State University (9-2, 2-0 LEC) on Wednesday, September 28 at 7:00 p.m.  The Panthers, who have won seven straight, were the top seed in the conference tournament last year but lost at home in the semifinals to Eastern Connecticut State University.
• WestConn hosts non-conference opponent Mitchell College (6-4) on Monday (September 26) at 7:00 p.m.
• Hunter is at Pratt Institute (6-4) on Tuesday, September 27 for a 6:00 p.m. start.