WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Molly Wetherbee finished with a career-high 19 kills and hit .441 as the Keene State College women's volleyball team outhit Eastern Connecticut State University .255 to .178, but the Owls allowed 13 aces and surrendered late runs in two of the three sets they lost as they fell to Eastern Connecticut State University 3-1 (23-25, 17-25, 25-16, 20-25) in a Little East Conference match Saturday at the Geissler Gymnasium.  KSC rebounded to crush Westfield State University by a combined 75-35 point total (25-12, 25-10, 25-13) in the day's second match.

The Owls (8-10, 1-2 LEC) lost a league game in Connecticut for the second time in as many weekends, unable to make key plays late in sets that could have swung the match.  In the first, KSC scored five of the first seven points and led for much of the early going before the Warriors surged to an 18-15 lead with five straight points.  The Owls responded, tying it three different times after that including at 23-23, but surrendered a kill to Maggie Barr and made an error to give ECSU the early lead in the match.  Then in the fourth, Keene State rallied from deficits of 8-3 and 16-9 to tie it twice, including at 20-20 after a spike by Wetherbee, but subsequently allowed the final five points to lose the match.

In the middle two sets, both teams exchanged commanding victories.  KSC needed a win in the second to avoid a 2-0 match hole, but after leading 10-9 allowed nine of the next 10 points to suddenly fall behind by seven (18-11).  They never got closer than five after that, with two kills by Brooke Praskievicz and a block by Haley Jo Bridges accounting for three straight points that made it 24-16 before two points later an Owl attacking miscue gave the Warriors the set.  KSC hit a paltry .086 in the second set.
KSC stayed alive, though, with their most effective frame of the day in the third when they outhit Eastern .400 and -.026 in a 25-16 win that was not remotely close.  The Owls sprinted out to an 8-3 lead, forcing a timeout by the home team, and it only got worse from there, as a block, kills from Wetherbee and Marina Miller, and two ECSU attacking errors widened the gap to 16-4.  The Warriors trimmed their deficit as low as six twice, but Wetherbee and Gigi Stake polished off the set win at the end with kills.

After struggling early in the fourth, KSC seemed to get momentum back when they stormed back from seven down, but they could not corral serves, allowing six of Eastern's 13 aces in the fourth alone.

"We had a good performance from Molly and Steph (Olah).  What hurt us again is we struggle in serve reception," said Keene State head coach Jake Girard.  "We are still figuring out lineups without Rud.  Kate (Cicerone) filled in and did a good job.  Against Westfield, we came out strong and every player got to get on the court for some playing time.  It was nice to have a good team victory."

Wetherbee's 19 kills surpassed her career-high of 17 set last season.  Stake added 10 kills, 12 digs and hit .176, while Theresa Norris had 18 digs and Alexis Small 42 assists.

Emma Robinson paced ECSU with 13 kills on .175 attacking while Bridges had 10 spikes on a .364 clip.  The Warriors had a 70-67 edge in digs, helping offset 10 more attacking errors than KSC.

Keene State avoided an 0-2 day by pulverizing Westfield State (6-10), outhitting the Owls .310 to -.044 while beating them for the 21st straight time in the series.

KSC did not trail in either of the opening two sets, opening up a 14-4 lead quickly to start the match and a 10-1 lead to start the second – neither of which was threatened.  In the third, Westfield took a 6-3 lead and was still even at nine when KSC embarked on a 7-1 push to go up 16-10 on three straight aces by Delia Ryan.  Westfield answered with three in a row, but KSC punctuated a dominant victory by scoring the final nine points, four on kills by Colleen Fraser and two on aces by Alexis Small.

Fraser had a team-best nine kills on .316 hitting in the match, while Wetherbee and Olah combined for 11 kills without an error.  Keene State racked up 18 aces and had a 41-27 advantage in digs.

The Owls improved to 2-0 against Westfield this season and will play them for a third time this Wednesday (October 9) at 7:00 p.m. on the road.  WSU salvaged a win on the day by beating Eastern Connecticut in four sets to end the tri-match.