KEENE, N.H. – Sydney Lyon and Celina Henn combined for 21 kills, just one fewer than how many the Keene State College women's volleyball team had, as Wheaton College hit .379 as a team in a 3-0 whitewashing of the Owls in non-conference action Thursday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Records

• Keene State:  10-15
• Wheaton (Mass.):  13-11

Postgame Interview (Coach Weiner)

How It Happened
The Lyons began the night by racking up 16 kills against only one error, hitting .517 in the opening set, and their offense never slowed down much after that as they handed KSC a loss in their final regular season home match of the season.  The Owls never led at any point in the match and had just 12 combined kills in the opening two sets, falling 25-10 and 25-16.  Wheaton rolled out to leads of 5-1 and 10-3 in the first before KSC's first kill, a swing from Veronica Kroha, made it 10-4 out of an early timeout.  However, the Owls never threatened, allowing the next four and falling into a 16-5 deficit on kills by Lyon and Julia Wingler.  Keene State was never closer than 10 after that, and finished the opening frame with just five kills and four errors on 27 attempts, attacking at a .037 clip.  In addition to a wide 48-22 edge in kills in the match, Wheaton was also plus-11 (52-41) in digs, with the Owls' swings struggling to find the floor most of the time.

After 16 spikes in their opening set win, the Lyons actually increased that total to 18 – still hitting .389 – in a second frame that played out a lot like the first after the Owls provided some early resistance, getting within 8-7 on a block from Stephanie Olah and Kroha (KSC's only block of the match) and a swing from Sarah Bartels, who had an effective match.  However, Wheaton immediately ran off five in a row – three on kills and one on an ace – to go up six, and eventually pushed their lead to eight (19-11).  The closest the Owls came thereafter was 19-13 on Alexis Small's ace, but KSC's serve was broken by serving into the net, and Wheaton eventually went up 23-14 on Wingler's point and brought up set point (24-16) on a kill by Henn.  They ended the set on their first chance, a kill from Megan Kelleher, to finish off a nine-point set win and overall outscored the Owls by 24 points in the opening two sets.

The third set looked like it would be an immediate runaway, as the Lyons scored four straight and seven of the first nine.  However, KSC despite facing a 2-0 match deficit did battle, getting within 7-5 on an ace by Annaliese Rudberg and 11-9 on consecutive kills by Bartels.  It again looked like Wheaton took total command when they went up 17-10, but consecutive aces from Small chipped the deficit to four.  Down 21-14, Keene State embarked on an 8-1 run for a 22-22 tie in which Bartels had three kills and Kroha had two, the last of which forcing the set's first deadlock and the first in the match since it was 1-1 in the first set.  However, the Owls could not finish off the comeback, with an attacking miscue giving Wheaton a point and the serve back.  They followed with an ace from Henn for match point, and an attacking miscue by the Owls ended it.  KSC hit .200 (seven kills, two errors) in the second and .154 (10 kills, four errors) in the final two sets, but was unable to challenge Wheaton at the net and also surrendered 10 aces.

Lyon hit .391 and Henn .444 on the evening to pace the visitors, with the former adding 12 digs.  Wingler had seven kills on 10 attempts and did not make an error.

Bartels finished with eight kills and attacked at a .250 clip.  Gigi Stake had 13 digs and Small 17 assists, seven digs, and three aces.

Service Aces

• The Owls conclude the home season 5-6, their first losing mark at Spaulding Gymnasium since 2016 when they also had that same mark.
• Bartels' eight kills are tied for the second most in a match this season.  Her career-high came on September 2 when she had 12 against Skidmore at Springfield College.
• KSC leads the all-time series 5-3 but has now lost the last three.  It was Wheaton's first ever visit to Keene.

Up Next

• The Owls close their conference schedule at Rhode Island College (9-14, 2-4 LEC) on Saturday, October 28 at 11:00 a.m.  KSC can clinch an LEC tournament spot with a win.  They can still get in with a loss if certain scenarios play out, though it would come down to deeper tiebreakers that would have to play out over the remainder of the league schedule.
• Wheaton, who escaped Salve Regina University on Tuesday and won consecutive matches after five straight losses, hosts Emerson College (13-8, 4-5 NEWMAC) for a conference match on Halloween (Tuesday, October 31) at 7:00 p.m.