HENNIKER, N.H. – Junior middle blocker Molly Wetherbee finished with nine kills while first year setter Alexis Small added 27 assists and seven kills as the Keene State College women's volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 win over New England College in the season finale for both teams, winning sets 25-21, 25-12, and 25-18 at Bridges Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

Records

• Keene State:  13-15
• New England College:  12-16

How It Happened
The Owls trailed just one time – after the opening point of the match – in the first two sets and then scored 10 of the final 12 points in the third to finish off a sweep that they hope will add to their momentum heading into the postseason, which begins on Tuesday night.  KSC had the Pilgrims chasing all day after they honored their seniors prior to the match, outhitting the home team .172 to -.021.  NEC was in negative numbers in each of the final two sets, while the Owls attacked at a clip over .200 for each of the first two frames to establish a comfortable lead in the match.  KSC made 10 attacking errors in the third set, but still prevailed relatively easily by pulling away at the end as NEC had just five kills in the set and 22 total for the match.

Keene State scored seven of 10 points in the opening set to take a 7-4 lead, and had an answer for every small push from the Pilgrims thereafter.  NEC erased a 9-6 deficit to tie it at 12, but three Owl points in a row including a kill and assisted block from Wetherbee quickly restored a three-point edge.  The Pilgrims tied it three more times thereafter, the last of which coming at 17-17, but again Keene State hit back, getting a spike from Sarah Bartels and two from Veronica Kroha to force NEC's second timeout.  A ball handling error pushed the lead to four, and later a Wetherbee kill made it 23-18 as KSC pulled away, winning 25-21.

Bartels sent down a pair of kills right away to begin the second set as the Owls set the tone right away, turning it into a runaway.  New England College called a timeout just four points in, and then watched KSC's lead balloon to 8-0 following an ace from Kroha and another kill by Bartels.  Two Owl miscues finally got the home team on the board, but they never made much headway, as a Wetherbee swing and two NEC attacking errors push the lead to 11-2, and Stephanie Olah provided a double-digit lead at 13-3.  The Pilgrims got as close as six (16-10), but that was gone in a blink, as Keene State ran off seven in a row that included two more aces late from Kroha that pushed the lead to 13 (23-10) and won 25-12 on an attack on two by Small, whose seven kills (and no errors) were a rookie season best.

The third set was back-and-forth for quite a while, with NEC leading by two on a pair of occasions including 14-12, but a late push was enough to seal the deal for the Owls.  The Pilgrims' aforementioned lead did not last long, as Wetherbee (kill) and Kroha (ace) put KSC back in front 15-14.  Down by one two points later, a block from Small kickstarted an 8-0 run – the second straight set the Owls ran off at least that many points in a row – that helped provide a seven-point advantage.  There were contributions from several in that span, with Wetherbee blocking Tatiana Sampson, Theresa Norris serving an ace, and Lauren Bender finishing off a kill at one point accounting for three straight points.  Small brought up set point at 24-17 with her sixth kill, and then the Owls closed the match on a strange net violation by New England College, crediting her with her seventh kill.

Wetherbee hit at a .200 clip and had three blocks (two assisted), while Kroha finished with six kills, four aces, and three digs.  Bartels also had six kills and Olah five.  Gigi Stake and Reagan Fleming each had eight digs for KSC, who will enter the LEC tournament at 5-7 on the road and need to win at least two road matches to defend their title from a season ago, beginning with a visit to the University of Massachusetts-Boston in a quarterfinal on Tuesday night.

"We seem to be playing better at the right time," said Keene State head coach Bob Weiner.  "We played one of our worst matches of the season the last time we played Boston.  I'm thinking it's a good matchup and it'll be a competitive game."

Renee McBride-Rogers led New England College with seven kills, but hit .050.  Torrance Robertson added five and the Pilgrims were credited with 10 blocks, but were their -.021 attacking clip was their fourth worst mark of the season.

Service Aces

• Keene State has won five of six in the all-time series, though their lone loss came in their only other visit to Henniker in 2021 (3-0).
• Wetherbee ends the regular season hitting a team-best .283 and has 176 kills, one off the team lead (held by Stake).
• Small has at least 26 assists in five out of the last six matches.

Up Next

• The fifth-seeded Owls' quarterfinal matchup in Boston on Tuesday (November 7) will start at 6:00 p.m.  UMass-Boston (16-9, 5-3 LEC), who was going to be the No. 4 seed regardless of today's results, ended their regular season with a 3-0 sweep of Eastern Connecticut State University, who was going to be the No. 6 seed regardless.  The University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth came from two sets down to win on the road at Plymouth State University to claim the league's regular season title for the first time, dropping the Panthers to the No. 2 seed.  KSC beat PSU in last year's final 3-2 in Plymouth.  The Panthers' last league regular season loss prior to today was in Keene, 3-0, last September.
• New England College, the No. 8 seed in their first year in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, will host ninth-seeded University of St. Joseph (Conn.) (7-20, 6-9) in a play-in game on Monday, November 6 at 6:00 p.m.  NEC won the regular season match 3-0.