Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

KEENE, N.H. – Gigi Stake matched a career-high with 18 kills and had 27 on the day while Alexis Small racked up nine service aces to become just the 13th player in program history to surpass 150 for their career as the Keene State College women's volleyball team took down the University of Southern Maine and Regis College (Mass.) in a pair of Senior Day wins on Saturday at Spaulding Gymnasium.

KSC (10-11, 2-3 LEC) pummeled the Huskies in the conference match, winning 25-13, 25-11, and 25-12 – and it might not even have been that close, with the Owls outhitting USM (7-17, 1-3 LEC) .373 to .076 while racking up a 41-18 advantage in kills.  Thanks to five aces apiece from Small and Ava Harkins, KSC also had a whopping 15-2 edge in that category and held Southern Maine without a block.  Colleen Fraser had a team-high 13 kills while hitting an impressive .435 while Stake added nine spikes, 15 digs, and two aces.  As a team, the Owls had only 10 attacking errors, a season-low, to match their season-high hitting percentage.

The match turned quickly into a runaway, as KSC broke away from a 10-10 tie in the opening set with a crushing 14-2 run that featured five kills and five aces – four by Small in a six-point span when the Owls ballooned a 17-12 lead to 24-12.  Stake ended the set two points later to give KSC the set, and the home team then removed any doubt about the second frame after opening with a 12-3 run.  Southern Maine got as close as 15-9, after which the Owls ran off six straight capped by kills from Lauren Bender and Fraser to go up double-figures (21-9).  All-in-all, after splitting the first 20 points of the match, KSC outscored USM 40-14 to take a 2-0 match lead and 65-26 over the remainder of the match.

Two kills by Fraser and an ace by Annaliese Rudberg, one of three seniors honored before the match along with Stake and Grace Christian, helped the Owls out to a 7-3 lead in the third and KSC never trailed after facing a one-point deficit twice in the first, the last of which at 9-8.  The Huskies hung around briefly, getting to within 12-9 in the third, but a Fraser kill and ace from Stake began a 5-0 run and KSC rolled from there.  Southern Maine never had more than six kills in any set.

The momentum-chasing Owls picked up more in the day's second matchup – winning for the sixth time in nine outings in comeback fashion as they erased a 2-1 match deficit and 13-12 hole in the fifth set by scoring the final three points to beat Regis (13-10, 6-1 GNAC) for the second time in only three all-time meetings.

It was a match that featured wild momentum swings in both directions – with each team seeming to be in firm control at different points.  KSC turned a slim 10-9 advantage in the first set into a romp with a 15-6 burst to take the frame by double-digits and then stormed out of the gates to an 11-1 lead in the second.  However, the Pride – who lost in five sets to Rhode Island College in a make-up match on Friday before handling Southern Maine in four earlier in the day – used a 10-3 run of their own to get within three at 14-11 and eventually took their first lead of the match at 17-16.  KSC tied it only once, at 17, before Regis scored six of the next eight to go up four before closing out a 25-19 set win.

The Pride ran out to a 6-0 lead in the third before trailing 9-7 and 16-14 later, only to rattle off seven straight to go up five in an eventual 25-20 victory in the third frame to take what seemed at several points would be an improbable match lead.

KSC seemed to be in deep trouble in the fourth, down 17-11 after allowing another 7-0 run – but one furious 13-1 surge later saw them turn the six-point deficit into a six-point lead.  Leading 20-18, Sarah Bartels fired down an important kill and two consecutive aces by Delia Ryan put the Owls in firm control.  The 16th of Stake's career-high matching 18 kills clinched a 25-19 set win to force a deciding fifth.

Outside of six service errors in the final frame, KSC had the better of the play – holding the Pride to a negative attacking percentage.  But partly because of the miscues, the Owls found themselves in danger down 12-9 after Eva Catalanotto and Grace Fabiano combined to post four straight kills.  The duo then misfired twice to trim their team's lead to one, and another ace by Small tied it.  A service miscue gave the ball back to Regis with a 13-12 lead, but KSC's one final push out of a timeout sealed their tenth win of the season.  A Fraser kill tied it once more and the Owls were first to have a match point chance thanks to one of nine Pride attacking errors in the set.  KSC ended it on their first chance, with a first year (Katie Taylor) and senior (Stake) teaming up to stuff Catalanotto for the exciting finish.

The Owls dropped their first three home matches – two in five sets and one in four – but have now won their last three at home.  At 2-3 in the conference, they currently sit in a tie for fifth place with Western Connecticut State University.  Two-time defending league tournament champion University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth swept Vermont State University Castleton 3-0 today to maintain their hold on first, while Plymouth State University – who the Owls handed their lone league loss so far (4-1) won at Eastern Connecticut State University in four – to assume control of second place.
KSC has another two-game road week in the LEC on tap, beginning with a trip to Castleton (11-11, 0-4 LEC) on Wednesday (October 22) at 7:00 p.m.  The Owls will visit Rhode Island College on Saturday.  KSC has just three conference matches left, and six overall, in the regular season.