PLYMOUTH, N.H. – The Keene State College women's volleyball team came within four points of forcing a decisive fifth set after losing the first two in lopsided fashion, but Plymouth State University had enough to hold off the Owls for a 3-1 Little East Conference tournament quarterfinal victory on Tuesday night at Foley Gymnasium.

Sixth-seed KSC (14-14) was one of just two teams to beat Plymouth (21-7), the No. 3 seed who missed a chance to win the regular season at the University of Massachusetts-Boston this past Saturday, in the conference regular season, winning in four sets at Foley Gymnasium, but this time around could not contain the Panthers' offense, allowing them to hit .257 including over .340 in the first and fourth sets.

Slow starts doomed the Owls most of the night, as they fell behind 10-3 in an eventual 25-18 first set loss and 12-1 when they dropped the second 25-12.  It seemed the third would be a runaway also when Plymouth scored nine of the first 11 points, but KSC answered with a massive 12-1 run that ended with three Ava Harkins aces, two kills by Katie Taylor, and a spike from Bartels to jump in front by four (14-10).  The Panthers answered with four in a row and tied it eight times thereafter, but the Owls broke the final tie at 22 by scoring the last three points, including an ace by Delia Ryan that brought up set point.  Colleen Fraser set up Rudberg to get the Owls on the board with a 25-22 win.

Keene State also tried to flip the fourth set after falling behind 9-3 to send it to a fifth set, but fell just shy.  A kill by Taylor and a block by she and Marina Miller made it 18-17 and the Owls got within one three more times including at 21-20, but Sya McKay and Ella Koelb combined for three straight kills in a critical run of three straight for Plymouth to gain separation.  KSC scored the next two including a block by Rudberg and Fraser, but a service error by the Owls advanced Plymouth to the semifinals for a rematch with UMass-Boston.

The Owls have not made it past the quarterfinals in the last three seasons since winning the Little East tournament in 2022.

"Plymouth State is a great team with good athletes and good size and is well-coached," said KSC head coach Jake Girard.  "They came out swinging and surprised us a bit in the first and second.  We made some adjustments in the third and were able to grab that set and had a competitive fourth set but came up short."

"I want to thank my seniors and captains Rud, Gigi, and Grace (Christian)," he added.  "All three have been instrumental in the development of our team culture."

KSC will await possible selection to an ECAC tournament, otherwise will turn their attention to 2026.

"Looking forward, I'm excited about the junior class," said Girard.  "I think Colleen will continue to improve along with Lexi Small.  Our sophomores Marina and Delia will have another year of experience under their belt and we had two freshmen out on the court all year with Ava and Katie, so they definitely can compete and will only get better."