KEENE, N.H. – Senior libero Reagan Fleming became the 16th member of the Keene State College women's volleyball 1,000 digs club, the first to reach the milestone in five seasons, as the Owls downed Curry College 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 27-25) in non-conference action Tuesday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Records

• Keene State:  10-14
• Curry:  4-19

Postgame Interview (Coach Weiner)
Postgame Interview (Reagan Fleming)

How It Happened
Fleming needed just three digs on the night to reach the milestone, and got them very quickly – just 20 points into the opening set with KSC leading 12-8.  She finished with a team and match-high 13 on the evening, and the Owls overall had little trouble dispatching a Colonels team that had lost eight straight entering the night including seven straight in three sets.  They had not won a set since taking the State University of New York at Cobleskill to five on October 6, and that remained the case after KSC won the first two sets by a combined 50-29 total and then came from 21-15 down in the third set.  Curry's first lead of the match did not come until what turned out to be the final set, as they opened a 2-0 lead.  The Owls took two brief leads thereafter, but were mostly chasing after that, as the Colonels posted three aces in a five rally span to help turn what was a 10-10 tie into a 16-11 advantage.  KSC scored three straight to get within two, but a 5-1 run for Curry after seemed like it would be enough to push it to a fourth set.  It ultimately was not, though, as KSC went on a 5-0 burst after trailing 22-18 capped by a spike from Veronica Kroha (she and Sarah Bartels each had two in the run) to take a 23-22 lead.  Keene State had the first chance at ending the set after Kroha's point made it 24-23, but she served it out of bounds to tie it, and Leah Oscar-Phoenix then gave Curry a chance at set point after her kill.  However, the Colonels' Sydney DeCarvalho served into the net for another tie, and a kill by Colleen Fraser on the next point put KSC in front 26-25.  A bad set by Emma St. Cyr ended the match and gave the Owls their 10th win.  Curry hit .143 in the third set after connecting at a .029 and -.206 clip in the opening two sets, while the Owls' .194 overall percentage included a .194 percentage (13 kills, two errors) in the third.

Keene State took control of each of the first two sets very quickly.  In the first, they scored the opening four and seven of the opening eight.  Curry ran off five straight to avoid an early blowout, but the Owls steadily pulled away, going up 11-7 on spikes from Gigi Stake and Stephanie Olah.  Grace Christian's serve reception turned kill made it 15-10, and a Bartels ace and two Molly Wetherbee points had the Owls up nine.  They had no trouble from there, going up double-figures (24-14) on Theresa Norris' ace and wrapped up the set on a kill by Olah.

KSC only hit .100 as a team in the second set, but it was more than enough, as they moved out to a 6-3 lead on a ball handling and attacking error by Curry on consecutive points.  Another ace for Norris pushed the edge to 8-4, and consecutive blocks – one from Annaliese Rudberg and the other from Olah – made it 12-5.  The Colonels again briefly hung around, running off five straight to chip their deficit to two (13-11).  However, Lauren Bender's kill was the start of a 6-1 binge for KSC that put the home team up seven again (19-12).  In the end, after getting within two, Curry was outscored 12-3 down the stretch to tumble into another 2-0 match deficit.  The Colonels are hitting just .041 and have 17 matches hitting under .100 on the season.

Wetherbee finished with six kills on 18 swings and hit .278 with two blocks (both assisted).  Stake also had six kills, while Kroha and Bartels each had five and only one error.  Alexis Small had 26 assists and six digs as KSC evened their home record at 5-5 with one to go at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Oscar-Phoenix paced Curry with six kills (.333 pct.), four digs, and two blocks (both assisted).

Service Aces

• The most recent entrants into the 1,000-dig club before Fleming were Olivia Mathieu (2016-2019; 1,306 digs) and Riley Bunker (2015-2018; 2,035 digs).  Bunker is the all-time KSC digs leader.
• Fleming's now 1,010 digs have come in 249 sets (72 matches).  She would likely be much higher on the list if not for the 2020 turned Spring 2021 season, which featured just five matches, and a sophomore year wrist injury that resulted in the Pearl River, N.Y. native suiting up for just 15 matches out of 30 that year.  She had 411 digs a season ago (28 matches) and 334 so far this year.
• It was the second-ever meeting between the two teams.  The only previous one, also a 3-0 KSC win, came at Western New England University in 2017.  Curry officially started their varsity team in 2010.

Up Next

• The Owls close their home schedule against Wheaton College (Mass.) (12-11, 4-5 NEWMAC) on Thursday (October 26) at 7:00 p.m. before three road games to close the regular season, including at Rhode Island College on Saturday.
• Curry hosts Roger Williams University (7-13, 1-5 CCC) for a conference match on the same night (6:00 p.m.).