WORCESTER, Mass. – Senior middle blocker Veronica Kroha had a kill and teamed up on a block with Alexis Small to turn a late fifth set deficit into a lead, and the Keene State College women's volleyball team did just enough to edge out a 3-2 (18-25, 25-14, 14-25, 25-15, 15-12) victory over Worcester State University in non-conference action at Brissette Court on Tuesday night.

Records

• Keene State:  12-15
• Worcester State:  12-14

How It Happened
Looking to build as much momentum as they can before next week's Little East Conference tournament that will see the Owls as the No. 5 seed, it was an up-and-down night for KSC before a late burst of four consecutive points was enough to turn the tables and notch a second consecutive win.  It was not always pretty – as evidenced by a -.029 attacking percentage while losing the first set by seven points and being minus-10 in kills, but the Owls' middles combined for 17 kills and KSC held the Lancers to .077 hitting or worse in three of the five sets.  Worcester had beaten Keene State only one time in 23 prior meetings – 19 years ago in the Lancers' old gymnasium – but for a fair amount of this Halloween night, it looked like it might be a scary result, as the home team rallied from a 7-4 deficit in the fifth set to leads of 9-8 and 11-10.  Beatrice Gamboa-Estrella and Cassie Millea punctuated the run with kills, with the duo combining for 21 kills.  Cassidy D'Esposito also had 11 with a match-best .409 attacking clip.  It was ultimately an erratic offense that produced 14 of their 25 attacking errors in the final two sets (after 11 in the first three combined) that did in the Lancers.  KSC compiled 78 digs, including 13 from Grace Christian and 12 from Reagan Fleming.  Two others had nine and, in total, 13 different players on the Owls' roster recorded at least one.

The teams mostly swapped dominating each other in sets over the course of the night.  In the first, which perhaps was the exception, the Owls moved out to a 4-1 lead, but Worcester went on an 11-3 burst to go ahead by five.  KSC answered, getting kills from Savannah Soleau and Annaliese Rodberg to go in front by one (15-14), only to see Worcester State score six straight to go up 20-15.  Keene State got three back, two on Lancer errors, but the home team reeled off another run – this time 5-0 – to take the frame.

Worcester led 4-2 in the very early going of the second, but Gigi Stake converted a pair of kills to get the Owls going, and they eventually led 11-6 after completing a 9-2 push.  The Lancers' timeouts did nothing to slow the Owls, as they called one when trailing by that five-point margin and then another when down 17-10.  Keene State would close on a 5-0 run for a 25-14 win to even the match.

The phrase "trick or treat" could continue to describe KSC, though, as the Owls never led in the third set and were behind again in the match after falling into a deficit of 13-6 that never improved, eventually reaching 16-7 and later 21-9.  They never scored more than two points in a row at any time in the match, and after seeing a three-point deficit balloon to seven were never threatening again.  The Lancers hit .386 in that frame, racking up 16 kills against only one error (on 39 total attempts).
Just as fast as Worcester found their offense, it disappeared completely, as they hit -.047 in the fourth set and had 10 attacking errors.  The teams exchanged leads early, but after Worcester got within 13-11 to begin to erase a previous 6-0 Owl run, it was all KSC.  The visitors ran off the next five in a row, two on kills from Kroha and another from Sarah Bartels, to take an 18-11 advantage and cruised from there, ultimately outscoring the Lancers 12-4 down the stretch to force a deciding frame.

Wetherbee notched another double-digit kill performance with 10 and hit .318 while adding three digs.  Kroha had seven kills and hit .250 with nine digs and four block assists, while Stake also had seven spikes and added seven digs.  Alexis Small had 28 assists and five digs.

"We're getting better every match.  There's still room for growth, but time is running out a little," said Keene State head coach Bob Weiner.  "We'll see what we can add and solidify in pratice this week to get ready for the playoffs."

Camryn Burgio had 25 digs for Worcester State, who is currently tied for second in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference at 5-1 (Westfield State University is first at 6-0) but lost twice to KSC this season after falling 3-0 (28-26, 25-15, 25-19) to the Owls on September 16 at Suffolk University.  Jessica Timothy led the Owls in kills that day with 11.  Stake had eight.

Service Aces

• Kroha has 27 kills over her last four matches, hitting .350 or better in two of them.
• Wetherbee recorded consecutive double-digit kill efforts for the first time in her career.
• KSC improved to 7-3 when having at least 60 digs as a team on the season.

Up Next

• Keene State closes the regular season at New England College (12-15) on Saturday, November 4 at 1:00 p.m.  The Owls will also be following the remainder of the conference results on the final day of league play.  The University of Massachusetts-Boston is locked into the No. 4 seed after Western Connecticut State University swept the University of Southern Maine on Monday in a rescheduled game.  Plymouth State University and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth will play for the regular season title in Plymouth, with the loser the No. 2 seed.  WestConn will be the No. 3 seed and Eastern Connecticut State University the No. 6 seed.
• Worcester State has a game important for MASCAC seeding against the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on the same day (6:00 p.m.).  The winner will be the No. 2 seed.