BEVERLY, Mass. – Sophomore outside hitter Jessica Timothy (Haddam, Conn.) hit .364 and had a career-best 10 kills on 22 attempts, but the Keene State College women's volleyball team could not hold on to a seven-point lead in the fourth set to force a deciding fifth set, falling to Endicott College 3-1 (25-21, 24-26, 25-17, 25-23) on Friday night at MacDonald Gymnasium.  It was the first of three weekend matches as part of the 2023 MIT Invitational.

Records

• Keene State:  2-3
• Endicott:  3-0

How It Happened
Kicking off a weekend slate against three NCAA tournament teams from a season ago, the Owls surrendered 17 kills and a .433 attack percentage to Krystina Schueler, and that proved to be a major difference in the match as KSC dropped their second straight road contest in four sets.  Much like Tuesday night against Clark, the Owls dropped the opening set before rebounding to win the second.  The third set continued to be problematic, as KSC fell 25-17 (it was 25-13 Tuesday night) and registered only five kills on .000 hitting (Endicott hit .270 and had 15 spikes, a 10-kill differential in the set alone for a match that had a difference of 14 kills overall).  Unlike Tuesday, Keene State hit back in the fourth set, opening an 8-4 lead on Theresa Norris' ace and an Endicott attack error.  It was later 12-5 after four consecutive points including kills from Molly Wetherbee and Sarah Bartels along with a block by Bartels and Veronica Kroha, but the Gulls scored nine of the next 10 to take a 14-13 lead, their first since it was 1-0.  It was close from there, with neither team leading by more than two until Endicott ran off a critical three points in a row to turn a 20-19 edge into a four-point lead.  KSC rebounded to draw back within one (24-23) on a kill by Gigi Stake and two Endicott errors, but Schueler tacked on one more swing to end the match.  The senior middle blocker had neither a third of the home team's kills – and her team outside of her hit only .124.  KSC hit .120 as a team, but again was weighed down significantly by a dull offensive set.  The Owls swung at a .158 clip outside of the swing third frame, but that set loss that put them down 2-1 in the match ultimately brought their percentage down by well over 30 points.

Entering the third, KSC seemed to gather a fair bit of momentum, erasing a 17-9 deficit to take a 20-19 lead on an 11-2 run.  The Gulls seemed they might still take a 2-0 match lead, going back up 24-21 on a pair of Kelsey Sanborn kills around an Owl error, but Bartels sent down a pair of spikes to tie it once more, and an error by Francesca Batek and Wetherbee kill gave Keene State a set win, outhitting Endicott .229 to .061 to even the match at one.

The Owls also could not overcome allowing 16 more aces – the fourth time in five matches they have allowed at least 14 (one match went to five sets).  Endicott did have 12 service errors, though KSC opponents have a 67-to-45 ace-to-error ratio in the five matches thus far (the Owls 41-to-28).

It was a standout match for Timothy, who had four kills in the second set win and three in the fourth, the last of which forced an 18-18 tie.  She has 15 kills against only four miscues in the last two matches after 10 and 12, respectively, in the opening three.

"We played them tough...we've been able to make adjustments and slow down opposing teams' better players, but we've also shown a tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot by making self-inflicted errors (serve receive, low hitting percentage)," said Keene State head coach Bob Weiner.  "When we solve those issues, we'll be ready."

"Timothy was good, as were Stephanie Olah and Sarah Bartels, so that is something," he added.

Bartels, a first year Owl stuffing the stat sheet, finished with eight kills on .263 hitting, 15 assists, four digs, and two block assists.  Olah also added eight kills (.208 pct.) while Wetherbee had five and three block assists.  Alexis Small tied for the team-best 15 assists, and Reagan Fleming had 22 digs.

Endicott received 12 kills on 33 total attempts from Julia Giroux, while Sanborn had eight spikes on 27 tries.  Savannah Cambell had 39 assists, eight digs, four kills, four aces in an all-around effort, while Emma Ruel paced the Gulls with 17 digs.

Service Aces

• Endicott was plus-seven in aces, plus-nine in assists, and plus-one in digs, while Keene had three more blocks (7-4).
• The Owls are hitting .123 thus far through five matches.  Last year through that many matchups, they were at only a .108 clip.
• Wetherbee (.265) and Olah (.218) continue to hit at a .200 or better clip. 
• Endicott has won the last two matchups after KSC posted a 3-0 sweep in 2021 at MIT.
• The tournament features four NCAA tournament teams from a year ago; MIT finished 27-6, won the NEWMAC, and reached the NCAA quarterfinals (Elite Eight) before falling to Trinity University (Texas), Endicott went 22-9 and won the CCC before falling to Salisbury University in the first round, and Ithaca went 25-5, won the Liberty League, and beat Alfred State College in the first round of the NCAA tournament before losing to Christopher Newport University, 26-24, 25-17, and 25-21.

Up Next

• The Owls take on host and 13th-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology (4-1) tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. in Cambridge before a meeting with Ithaca College at 3:00 p.m.  Ithaca downed the Engineers 3-1 tonight, their second ranked win of the year after winning at No. 4 New York University 3-1 on September 1.
• Endicott plays the same two teams in reverse order.  The Gulls went 3-0 at this event last year, including an upset of then-No. 10 MIT on September 10 (3-1).