Box Score

BOSTON, Mass. – The Keene State College women's volleyball team saw their season come to an end, losing every set by at least nine points as the University of Massachusetts-Boston rolled to a 3-0 (25-14, 25-11, 25-16) win in the Little East Conference quarterfinals on Tuesday night at the Clark Athletic Center.

Records

• Keene State:  13-16
• UMass-Boston:  17-9

How It Happened
After struggling at the Clark Athletic Center in the regular season, hitting just .034 while compiling 27 attacking errors, tonight wound up not being much different as KSC connected at just a .020 clip (23 kills, 21 errors) and suffered the same fate, this time ending their season.  The Beacons, who upset the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth at the No. 6 seed in last year's tournament before being eliminated by the Owls in the semifinal round in Keene, recorded 40 kills against only 11 errors – and the stat line told the story.  In the opening set, the Beacons racked up 16 kills and hit .261 while easing to a 25-14 win that saw them lead 11-1 after the first 12 points.  KSC never got closer than eight the rest of the way (19-11), and at no point in the set scored more than two points in a row.

A massive drought in the second set sent the Owls into a 2-0 match deficit.  KSC started far better, opening an 8-5 lead with three in a row that included a kill from Molly Wetherbee and ace from Reagan Fleming.  However, UMass-Boston tied it on consecutive KSC attacking miscues, then went up two on consecutive aces – and that was just the beginning of a run of 13 consecutive points to take an 18-8 lead.  The Owls struggled for answers, burning both timeouts in that span, and also made five attacking errors.  In the set, KSC finished with only five kills and 10 errors, hitting -.208.

Keene State had their most productive offensive set of the night with their season on the line in the third, and they again got off to a strong start by scoring four of the first five as Wetherbee recorded a kill, Theresa Norris an ace, and Gigi Stake a spike, but could not limit UMB's offense nor another major surge from the home team that all but sealed the Owls' fate.  Down 12-11 after Sarah Bartels' kill, the Beacons tied it on a swing by Dylan Wertzberger and took the lead ultimately for good on her ace.  KSC was forced to call a timeout at 15-12 on Lauren Westlund's kill, but the run continued after and reached as high as 10-0, culminating with another Wertzberger ace and, after an Owl timeout, a kill by Livia Trindade.  At that point, the KSC deficit was 21-12 after they previously had held a 12-11 advantage.  Kills by Olah and Kroha brought the Owls to 22-15, but that is as close as they got, with points by Westlund and Taryn Broughal bringing up match point.  KSC wound have needed nine straight to stay alive, but got just one (a Stake) kill before an attacking error ended their season at 13-16.

"It was a disappointing night," said Keene State head coach Bob Weiner.  "We thought we could play with them, but we kept making unforced errors in bunches that just took us out of our game."

"We've got to improve offensively, there's no doubt about it," he added when asked about looking ahead.  "The loss of Reagan Fleming to graduation also means our defense will need reinforcements as well.  The freshman and sophomore classes learned a lot this year, and there are going to be some excellent players stepping up, but we're also looking for a couple dynamic newcomers."

Wetherbee led KSC with eight kills and hit .217 while adding three digs.  Stake had five kills and six digs, while Bartels finished with four kills (and one error on 15 attempts).  Alexis Small finished with 17 assists and 12 digs.

Trindade ate up the Owls, finishing with 12 kills while making just one attacking error on 28 attempts (.393 pct.).  Westlund also finished with 12 spikes and added nine digs, while Wertzberger had seven kills, nine digs, four aces, and two block assists.  UMB had at least three players with nine digs and the Owls had only one (setter Small).

Keene State also finished with just two aces on the night, eight fewer than the Beacons.

Service Aces

• KSC was bidding for their first ever back-to-back titles and third overall.
• Wetherbee finished the season with 184 kills and hit .279, also a team best.
• Fleming led the defense with 386 digs and finished with 1,062 in her career (386 in her senior season).  That mark leaves her 14th on Keene State's all-time career list.
• The Owls won both head-to-head meetings against the Beacons last year, but still have not won at the Clark Athletic Center since 2008, losing 15 in a row at that venue.  UMB leads the series 24-14.

Up Next

• Keene State's season is over.  They wound up finishing with a .132 attack percentage as a team, 37 points lower than a year ago.
• UMass-Boston, the No. 4 seed, moves on to take on No. 1 seed UMass-Dartmouth (18-6) in the semifinals on Thursday, November 9 at 7:00 p.m.  The Corsairs easily won the regular season matchup between the teams in North Dartmouth, outhitting the Beacons .290 to .038 in a 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-18) blowout.