SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Senior Gigi Stake fired down 13 kills while hitting .323 and had her second consecutive double-double to open the 2025 season as the Keene State College women's volleyball team split a pair of matches on the second day of the Dearing Classic hosted by Springfield College, beating Westfield State University 3-1 before being swept by Skidmore College 3-0.

The Owls (2-1) also got a career-best 11 kills from Colleen Fraser in the opening win against Westfield (0-2), including the final two in the first set as KSC scored the final two points to take it in extra points.  The frame featured a whopping 14 ties and six lead changes, with neither team ever leading by more than three points.  Westfield scored four in a row to turn a two-point deficit into a 17-15 lead in the later stages of the set, but two kills by Stake over the next five points helped KSC go on a small 4-1 burst to jump back in front.  Tied 20-20, the Owls scored three in a row to tie their largest advantage of the set only to see Westfield answer with four of the next five on three kills on an ace to tie it at 24 before Fraser sent down two important kills.  Stake had seven kills on eight tries and did not make an error in the opening set.

KSC controlled the match from there, opening up a 6-3 advantage in the second that later ballooned to 15-7 after the Owls ran off seven straight points on three kills, two aces by freshman Ava Harkins, and a block.  Westfield never got back into it as they fell into a 2-0 match hole, with their offense being limited to just .062 attacking in the frame.  The Owls saw a 19-11 lead shrunk to five twice, but they scored five of the final seven to polish off a 25-17 set win, their fifth straight including Friday's opening 3-1 victory over Rivier University.

WSU forced a fourth frame on the strength of their best offensive set of the day to end that streak for KSC, hitting .370 (12 kills, two errors) to post a 25-21 victory.  The Owls' lone lead in the frame came after they scored the first point, and they later found themselves trailing 15-10.  Out of a timeout, three kills, an ace, and a block helped Keene State reel off five in a row to tie it, but Westfield answered with three in a row and the Owls never had a chance to tie it again.

At two different points in the fourth, it seemed KSC would be heading for a decisive fifth set as they trailed 12-6 while never leading, 17-12, and 20-16 – but they had one final push in them, scoring nine of the final 12 points to beat Westfield for the 33rd time in 42 tries.  Annaliese Rudberg served up consecutive aces to being the Owls back within one and then freshman Katie Taylor had a block to tie it 21-21.  After a service error gave Westfield a brief lead again, Taylor tied it on a kill and two straight attacking errors – one the result of a block by Fraser and Taylor – put KSC at match point leading 24-22.  A service error by the Owls gave Westfield a chance to force extra points once again, but Fraser put a cap on her career match by ending it off a pass from Alexis Small.

KSC racked up 15 aces as a team in the match, including 14 over the final three sets.  Rudberg finished with nine kills against just two errors, hitting .467.  Marina Miller had 22 digs and six kills while Delia Ryan had 19 digs.

Emma Nihill led Westfield with 12 kills (.125 pct.) and Lauren Carnes had 11 (.207 pct.), but the Owls from Massachusetts were outhit .234 to .203.

"Ava and Lexi were the key to success, as all our hitters ended the match in the positive (for hitting percentage) with Rud at .467 and Katie Taylor at .308," said KSC head coach Jake Girard.  "And again serving was a huge part of our game in the match."

Keene State was handed their first loss of the season by Skidmore in their final match of the weekend, accumulating 29 attacking errors while hitting below zero.  The Thoroughbreds, who lost 3-1 to host Springfield earlier in the day, accumulated a whopping 15 blocks on the day and hit .303, compiling 36 kills to just nine errors as they snapped a three-match losing streak to the Owls.
KSC's lone set with a positive attacking clip was the third, but that came after a tough second set loss that saw the Owls squander a 15-11 lead.  Trailing 17-15, Skidmore got two kills by Maya Stolarz, an ace from Marlowe McIntyre, and a block from Jazlin Chen as part of a 6-0 run to take a four-point lead.  An attack error gave the Owls the ball back down three, but a kill and consecutive blocks but the Thoroughbreds on the brink of a set win, which they cashed in on their third try on a kill by Chen.

It was also Skidmore who made the plays down the stretch of the third, answering a kill by Miller that made it 17-15 with three straight including two more blocks.  Consecutive KSC miscues a short time later saw the Owls fall into a 22-16 deficit, and kills by Natalie Pedersen, Stolarz, and their 15th and final block of the day – this one from Chloe Heitman and Claire Sabo – helped the Thoroughbreds close out the match with a 25-18 set win.

Keene State ultimately never recovered from a slow start in a first set where they never led, allowing seven of the first 10 points and 14 of the opening 20.  The Owls got as close as 16-13 after a 7-2 burst, but Skidmore immediately answered with seven of eight of their own to make it a nine-point gap and cruised to the match lead at the end of one.

"Skidmore ran a faster offense than we were used to seeing and had some great blockers that we struggled to get the ball by," said Girard.  "We made some adjustments to speed up our offense and be more intentional with our blocking, and made progress, but it was not enough."

The 15 blocks against KSC were two more than they had against them in each of the first two matches this season combined, and the most since Westfield had 16 blocks against the Owls last October to snap a 21-game losing streak in the series.

Sarah Bartels (.400 pct.) and Fraser (.042 pct.) paced KSC's offense with five kills apiece.  Harkins added 14 assists, but the Owls did not have anyone reach double-digits in digs.

Bartels was named to the All-Tournament team from KSC, racking up 22 kills and hitting .278 in three matches this weekend.  Tori Colosimo from Springfield was the Most Outstanding Player as the Pride finished 3-0, beating Westfield in three, Skidmore in four, and Rivier in three.  The Owls went 2-1 on the weekend, Skidmore 1-1, Rivier 1-2, and Westfield 0-3.

Keene State hosts Bridgewater State University on Tuesday (September 2) at 6:00 p.m. in their home opener at Spaulding Gymnasium.