WORCESTER, Mass. – First year outside hitter Marina Miller (Pleasant Hill, Calif.) fired down 20 kills on 41 attempts, hitting an eye-popping .415, to pace a strong team offensive showing as the Keene State College women's volleyball team swept Worcester Polytechnic Institute 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-18) in the opener of a Saturday tri-match at the Harrington Auditorium.  The Owls then fell to Western New England University 3-1 in the second match of the day and have alternated wins and losses over the past five matches.

It has been a strong start to her career for the Owl rookie from the west coast, but her performance in the opener was by far her best yet, as she accounted for 20 of KSC's 45 kills (44 percent) and over the final two sets had 14 kills against only one error.  Gigi Stake added nine kills against only one error, hitting .308, and Annaliese Rudberg finished with eight kills on 18 attempts (.333 pct.).  Molly Wetherbee attacked at a .417 clip and had six kills.  As a team, the Owls (5-4) racked up 45 kills and outhit WPI (3-4) .298 to .109.

Keene State was in command for the vast majority of the match, but had to fend off the scrappy Engineers in each of the first two sets despite holding the home team to .045 and .030 hitting marks in those frames.  The Owls sprinted out to a 10-4 lead to start the day in the first and led 17-10 after three straight points later, but WPI went on a 9-3 burst to suddenly make it 20-19.  After a KSC timeout, a service error gave the ball back to the Owls and sparked a run of five straight to take the first, culminating with Rudberg blocking Lily Eldridge.

The second set played out similarly, as KSC moved out to a 9-6 lead on a kill by Stephanie Olah and later held an 18-13 edge following a run of five consecutive points.  The Engineers answered with three straight and eventually got to within 21-20 on back-to-back Owl miscues, but Miller responded with a kill and again did so two points later after WPI was again within one.  Rudberg again put an end to the set, powering down a pass from Small to finish off a 25-21 win for a 2-0 match lead.

KSC came out to start the third on fire, opening an 8-2 advantage on the back of three kills by Miller.  It was still 11-6 later before WPI scored five in a row to tie it, but Stake and Miller put the Owls back in front again and the visitors steadily pulled away, with two kills in a row by Rudberg making it 18-14.  Stake added three more kills in the later stages of the set, including two in a row to bring up match point at 24-16 and three rallies later Wetherbee finished off the sweep with a spike of her own.

The day's second match against Western New England (8-1) did not have a good ending, as the Golden Bears took the final two sets after KSC rebounded from dropping the opener to post a second set victory.  The Owls hit only .068 as a team, falling to 0-4 when hitting under .100 on the season.  They have swung at a .167 clip or better in all five of their victories.  Keene State also had no answers for Alissa Hawes, who racked up 22 kills and hit .326 to pace three in double-figures in that category.  WNE also had three rack up double-digit digs as they were plus-18 in that department.  Delia Ryan was the lone Owl with more than 10 digs, finishing with 16.

After one of their best offensive showings of the season, KSC got off to a slow start by allowing nine of the first 12 points in the match.  They would rally from nine down to get within two (19-17) on an ace by Miller, but subsequently allowed five straight points that included three errors before falling in the first set.

KSC bounced back to even the match by pulling out the second set, with the key stretch seeing the Owls get a kill and consecutive blocks by Wetherbee to turn a two-point edge into a 23-18 advantage.  The Golden Bears would get back within one at 24-23, but a swing by Miller gave the Owls the set.

Ultimately, the offensive struggles doomed Keene State in the end, as in a swing third set, the Owls compiled just nine kills against eight errors while hitting a match-worst .031 in a 25-19 loss.  It was back-and-forth early, but WNE gained separation by scoring six of even points for a 15-8 lead and was in control from there, scoring four more in a row after KSC was within 17-15.  It went south more quickly in the fourth, as the Golden Bears scored five straight to take a quick early advantage and eventually led 13-4.  The Owls trimmed what was later a double-digit deficit to five at 20-15, but never scored consecutive points again after that.

"We worked really hard in practice after the Clark game and had a great scout on WPI, which our Owls were able to execute," said KSC head coach Jake Girard.  "Multiple hitters had extremely high hitting percentages thanks to great setting from Alexis Small and our serve receive was top notch."

"Western New England had one of the most physical outside hitters we have played against yet and we had a really tough time slowing her down," he added referring to Hawes.  "Other than that, I thought we played really well."

KSC has won back-to-back matches against WPI to even the all-time series and saw a three-game winning streak against Western New England end.

The Owls visit Rivier University (4-5, 1-0 GNAC) on Wednesday, September 18 for a 7:00 p.m. start.  KSC downed the Raiders in five sets, dominating the fifth frame after seeing a 2-0 lead vanish, in Springfield, Mass. in early September.