KEENE, N.H. - Molly Wetherbee recorded a team-high eight kills and was one of 12 different Owls to record a spike on the night as the Keene State College women's volleyball team cruised past Anna Maria College in their season opener, winning by set scores of 25-9, 25-10, and 25-22 Wednesday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Records

• Keene State:  1-0
• Anna Maria:  0-4

Postgame Interview (Coach Weiner)
Postgame Interview (Sydney Johnson)

How It Happened
The match was in little doubt throughout, as the AMCATS led just one time – after scoring the opening point of the night – only to see KSC answer by scoring six of the next seven culminating with Theresa Norris' ace in an eventual 25-9 win in the opening set on their home floor.  Norris had four aces in the first set and the Owls outhit Anna Maria .370 to -.103, paced by five kills on six tries from Wetherbee, sophomore 6-2 middle blocker.  Cassidy Samuelson put Keene State ahead 15-6 in the first and then added another kill, one of seven on the night, a few moments later to make it an 18-7 gap.  The Owls ran off six in a row, three on aces and two on kills, to make it 24-8, and that was about all for the first set, with Wetherbee ended with a kill.

A 2-2 tie in the second frame was gone in the blink of an eye, as Veronica Kroha had three kills and Gigi Stake two as part of a 7-0 burst that put the second set away about as quickly as the first.  Anna Maria was never closer than five after that (9-4), and wound up swinging at a -.133 clip in the second.  They were limited to six kills and 13 errors over the first two sets while KSC had 25 spikes and eight miscues.  The Owls got several newcomers ample time in the match, but particularly in the second set, when they included first years Annaliese Rudberg, Stake, and Jessica Timothy in the starting group.  Kroha had four kills in that frame and Stake three.

Although the AMCATS had scored just 19 points over the opening two sets and trailed 4-0 to open the third, KSC had to weather a few surges by the visitors to lock up a season-opening win, seeing their four-point edge right away turn into a 6-6 tie.  The Owls then put up five in a row to regain space, but Anna Maria got within 12-11 on an ace.  A kill from Samuelson and ace by Blanchet put KSC up 18-12, but even that was not totally enough, as the AMCATS drew within one three more times after that, the last of which coming at 21-20.  A kill from Wetherbee and two AMC errors brought up match point at 24-20 before the Owls ended the evening three rallies later.

Keene State hit .247 in the match and had a 55-38 advantage in digs.  Anna Maria remained underwater, finishing with a -.093 hitting percentage.

Kacie Blanchet racked up 32 assists, eight digs, and two kills for the Owls, while Kroha had six spikes.  Reagan Fleming had 19 digs.

Jana Hunt and Sarah Burt each had six kills to pace Anna Maria.  The rest of the AMCATS had just one.

Service Aces

• The Owls' opener came five days later than anticipated after they could not travel to the Springfield College Invitational (three matches).
• KSC was picked to finish fifth, with one first place vote, in the conference's preseason coaches poll.
• The two teams' only previous meeting came in 2000, also a 3-0 sweep for the Owls at Rhode Island College.
• Grace Christian, Rudberg, Savannah Soleau, and Timothy all made their Keene State debuts in the match.

Up Next

• The Owls are back at it Friday, September 9 against 10th-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology (4-0) on the road at 6:00 p.m.  The match kicks off a three-match invitational that also sees KSC take on Bowdoin College and Endicott College (both receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 poll) on Saturday.  MIT won 29 of 33 matches a year ago and reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament before falling to Juniata College 3-1.
• Anna Maria has a tri-match at Salve Regina University (1-3) that also includes Plymouth State University (3-2) on Saturday (September 10) at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.