BOSTON, Mass. – The Keene State College women's volleyball team did not hit better than .065 in any set, finishing with a .034 hitting clip as a team overall in the match, as they suffered a 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-23) loss to the University of Massachusetts-Boston in Little East Conference women's volleyball action Saturday afternoon at the Clark Athletic Center.

Records

• Keene State:  8-12, 2-3 LEC
• UMass-Boston:  11-7, 2-2 LEC

How It Happened
The Beacons used an early 13-2 run to turn a two-point deficit into a 13-6 lead in an opening set that saw the hosts compile a .321 to .065 attacking advantage, and that eventually paved the way for UMB to send the Owls to their third straight loss and eighth sweep in 12 defeats this season.  KSC's offense was out of sync all day, with their .034 clip the third worst of the season.  They have hit less than .100 in two of their last three matches, both 3-0 conference losses.  They hit .214 at Nichols College between, but ultimately dropped that match in four.  A year after using an October surge (that included a pair of home wins over UMass-Boston) to take the sting out of a 3-12 start and win their first Little East Conference tournament championship since 2008, the Owls are just 1-3 in the month this year and next face a rematch of last year's title game when they travel to Plymouth State University (15-2, 5-0 LEC) on Wednesday night.  KSC is then home for four matches, including one conference tilt next Saturday, and on the road for three – and that does it for the regular season slate.

Keene State will be looking to put Saturday behind them quickly, as UMass-Boston was in control of the match throughout despite not putting up eye-popping numbers on the stat sheet.  The Beacons hit .176 in the second, and then dipped to .086 in the third, but nonetheless came from 19-16 down to win the latter frame.  Molly Wetherbee's kill had given the Owls a three-point edge looking to force a fourth set after they had erased UMass-Boston's 15-11 advantage.  However, the home team closed with a 9-4 push to deny the Owls and even their conference record.  After seeing UMass-Boston go ahead by two in the late stages of the third, four times KSC got back within one (two on UMB service errors).  At no time were the Owls able to string multiple points together and, in fact, after getting spikes from Wetherbee and Gigi Stake, made service errors each time.  UMass-Boston gave KSC the ball back at 24-23 after one of their own, but Lauren Westlund's kill that was unsuccessfully blocked by Jordyn Mik ended the match.

The Beacons hit 36 points higher than their season attacking average, with most of that damage coming in the first set.  The other damage came in the self-inflicted variety by KSC, who made 27 attacking errors – nine in every set.  In the opening two frames, UMass-Boston had eight total errors.  Keene State had made 18 by that point, and was down 2-0 in the match after losing the second 25-16.  That frame was tied 12-12 through 24 points, but Livia Trindade had two kills in a three-point span for UMB, who opened a lead of that size and subsequently never trailed again.  Wetherbee and Annaliese Rudberg fired down kills to keep it a two-point gap (17-15), but the Owls then allowed the next five and tallied only one of the final nine points to face what turned out to be an insurmountable match deficit.

"Rough day," said Keene State head coach Bob Weiner.  "We are not doing some basic stuff we need to do to win matches."

Wetherbee had nine kills for KSC on 30 swings and two blocks.  Jessica Timothy added six, but nobody that got 15 or more swings hit better than .100 on the day.  Alexis Small finished with 24 assists and 12 digs.

Livia Trindade lead UMass-Boston with 11 spikes (.292 pct.).  Westlund had seven while hitting at a .222 clip, and Mya Perron also had seven (.074 pct.).  Taryn Broughal had five spikes on 10 tries.

Service Aces

• KSC entered by winning the last two against UMB in the series.  They had not won more than that many in a row head-to-head since taking eight straight from 2002 through 2008, the last of which was a five set victory in the '08 title game at Spaulding Gymnasium.  2008 is also the last year KSC won at the Clark Athletic Center – they have lost 13 straight there since.
• The Owls have hit under .100 as a team in five matches and are 0-15 in sets in such matches.
• Wetherbee has 62 kills in her last six matches, averaging 10.3 per match.

Up Next

• KSC's match in Plymouth on Wednesday (October 18) begins at 6:00 p.m.  Including postseason play, the Panthers are 13-2 against conference opponents since the beginning of last season with both losses coming to the Owls.
• UMass-Boston hosts the University of Southern Maine (4-16, 0-4 LEC) on the same night at 6:00 p.m.  The Huskies have lost eight straight, seven in 3-0 fashion.