MADISON, N.J. – Hartwick College scored five of the final six points to break a 20-20 tie in an important second set to take a 2-0 match lead and went on to end the Keene State College women's volleyball team's season with a 3-0 victory in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) semifinals played Sunday at the Ferguson Recreation Center on the campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University Florham.

The Owls finish 14-15 and were outhit .219 to .044 by the Hawks (22-11), who fell in the Empire 8 Conference championship match 3-0 to St. John Fisher University eight days ago.  KSC, meanwhile, was taking the court for the first time since falling 3-1 to eventual Little East Conference champion Plymouth State University in the quarterfinals on November 11.

Short-handed KSC, playing without junior setter Alexis Small and freshman middle Katie Taylor, struggled in the opening set as they fell into a 9-3 deficit early and never led en route to a 25-15 loss.  It seemed they might have a chance to answer back with a win in the second set, scoring five straight early to open an 8-4 lead that later expanded to 16-11 after three straight Hawks miscues.  A kill by Annaliese Rudberg made it 19-16 Owls, but KSC could not hold on, making three errors over the next four points to fall behind 20-19.  Ava Harkins tied it at 20 with a kill following a timeout and Sarah Bartels made it 21-21 two points later, but a kill and two aces by Lucy Walker brought up set point and Shelby Swartz put KSC in a 2-0 match hole with a kill to end the second.

Keene State again played from in front in the third as they looked to extend their season, opening a 5-0 advantage, but the Hawks scored six of the next seven to tie it quickly and took their first lead at 10-9 after two Malia Dake aces.  It was nip and tuck from there, as kills by Colleen Fraser and Gigi Stake brought the Owls within one at 15-14 before Bartels' ace made it 16-16.  However, a service error by KSC began a crushing 6-0 run for Hartwick to put the Owls in a deep hole from which they never recovered.

KSC did not have many answers for Walker, who had 13 kills on 19 total attempts – an eye-popping .579 percentage.  Swartz added eight kills and Isabella Gracias seven.

Stake paced the Owls with seven kills and hit .115 in what turned out to be her final match.  Marina Miller had 12 digs and Harkins 17 assists.

"Hartwick was a good team," said KSC head coach Jake Girard.  "We fought the injury bug in this last leg of the season…we had one middle with Rud as Katie is out with a thumb injury so Sarah, Colleen, and Marina all took turns swinging out of the middle.  It took us getting used to one setter and we definitely missed Lexi's setting, but Ava did a good job running a 5-1 and we usually run a 6-2.  I like that my team competed in the second and third after getting used to the different lineups."

The Owls finished the season with three straight losses and hit .138 as a team on the season.  They were 5-12 when hitting .150 or less in a match (9-3 when above).

"We made some great progress this year," added Girard.  "We raised our ceiling…when we are at our best, we were awesome and can hang with anyone.  My focus is we need to raise our floor.  We are looking for more consistency on days where we aren't at our best…can we still perform at a high level.  I think that is what will help us make the next jump."

KSC graduates Stake, Rudberg, and Grace Christian as they look toward trying to take more steps forward in 2026.  They have not made it past the LEC quarterfinal round since winning the conference in 2022, when they overcame a 3-12 start.