NASHUA, N.H. – Junior outside hitter
Gigi Stake racked up 11 kills, nine digs, and hit .265 as she continued an impressive stretch, but the Keene State College women's volleyball team saw a two-set lead vanish as they fell back to .500 after dropping a five-set match at Rivier University at the Muldoon Gymnasium Wednesday night.
It is the third time in the last four matches Stake has had at least nine kills, but KSC (5-5) was done in by a Raider attack that saw four double-digit kill efforts. Rivier (5-5) had a combined 18 kills and 14 errors over the opening two frames, but then had 34 spikes and 15 attacking miscues over the ensuing three sets to move back to .500 after a 1-4 start that included a five-set loss to the Owls in which KSC dominated the fifth set 15-5, hitting .533.
On this night, the Owls appeared to be on their way to a commanding win, opening a 2-0 match lead following 25-21 and 25-11 set victories, but the Raiders began flipping the script by pulling away in the third set to stay alive and commanded the fourth frame to force a decisive fifth. In the first matchup of the season, KSC sprinted out to a huge lead in the final set and never looked back. This time it was Rivier who scored eight of the opening 10 points. The Owls came storming back, getting to within 11-8 on a block by
Colleen Fraser and 14-13 on consecutive kills by Stake and
Stephanie Olah, but a service error on the ensuing point ended the match.
The Owls outhit the Raiders .172 to .139, but had 32 fewer attacking attempts and were minus-13 in kills. Lilly Sills led Rivier with 15 kills and hit .216, while Brynn Roche had 11 and Ali Rivera and Sam Driend 10 each. Rivera and Hannah Raab each had 18 digs.
"It was two good teams going at it…we beat them in five earlier in the year but tonight they beat us in five. Both teams battle on every ball, there are no easy points," said KSC head coach Jake Girard.
"In the first two sets we were cruising. After they took the third, we got tense and had trouble refocusing in the fourth…we started missing serves and our passing declined. We started down in the fifth. Impressive play by Colleen (Fraser) kept us in it, but again our service errors held us back."
KSC outhit the Raiders .224 to .088 in the first meeting, but Rivier fell thanks to the Owls finishing with three in double-digit kills (
Marina Miller 16,
Sarah Bartels 14, and
Molly Wetherbee 10) while they had only one. Tonight, Miller had eight (.156 pct.) and Wetherbee five (.333 pct.).
The Owls have not beaten the Raiders consecutive times since 2017, when they beat them 3-2 on September 8 and 3-1 on September 26.
Keene State travels to Gordon College for a tri-match against Wheaton College (Mass.) and the host Fighting Scots on Sunday, September 22 at 2:00 and 4:00 p.m., respectively.
