NEW LONDON, N.H. – In their final match before their Little East Conference opener on Friday night at home, the Keene State College women's volleyball team might have been in search of some confidence.  Perhaps they have found it.  Marina Miller hit over .200 and had 14 kills while Sarah Bartels added 10 kills on .421 hitting as the Keene State College women's volleyball team connected for their highest attacking percentage in a match so far this season in a 3-1 (25-18, 15-25, 25-17, 25-18) non-conference victory over Colby-Sawyer College at the Hogan Sports Center on Tuesday night.

KSC (5-8) matched a season-high with 52 kills and made just 13 attacking errors, making less than 20 miscues for the third consecutive match after having 20 or more in seven of their first 10.  The Owls' .248 attack percentage was also a season-best, surpassing a .234 clip in a four-set win over Westfield State University at Springfield College on August 30.

Everyone joined in on the fun for KSC, too, as their three set victories all came by at least seven points against the Chargers (3-7), who lost to the Owls for the tenth consecutive time.  In addition to Miller and Bartels' combined 24 kills, Gigi Stake finished with nine on just two errors while adding a match-high 18 digs.  Annaliese Rudberg had seven kills without an error in the middle.

The most pivotal point of the match without question came in the third set after the teams split the opening two frames.  Remarkably, neither team led by more than a point until three in a row for Colby-Sawyer turned a 15-14 deficit into a 17-15 lead on kills by Katelyn Brakemeier and Claire Rocky sandwiched between an ace by Brakemeier.  Bartels answered with a pair of kills to tie it – but that was only the beginning of what turned into a huge surge to end the frame.  KSC would go on to score the final 10 points, going up 24-17 on spikes by Bartels and Stake to bring up set point.  Delia Ryan, who had 14 digs on the night, put KSC back in front in the match (2-1) with a set-clinching ace.
The Owls then never trailed while closing it out in four.  It seemed it would be a runaway early, as consecutive kills from Miller pushed KSC in front 7-1 and forced an early timeout from the home team.  Down seven after the stoppage, the Chargers rapidly trimmed their deficit back to one at 10-9 on consecutive aces by Addison Sasnett, but the Owls hit back by scoring five of the next six to go up five, forcing CSC to burn their second and final timeout in the process when it was 13-10.  The home team never got closer than four again, with KSC going up 21-14 on Ava Harkins' ace.  A swing by Rudberg would get the Owls to match point at 24-18 later, and her team block with Fraser on Brenna Piller gave KSC a much-needed win.

The Owls had been stymied at Wheaton in a tri-match that included Gordon College last Saturday but came out of the gate strong on this night, opening an early 12-3 advantage as they rolled to a 25-18 win in the first set, hitting .263 in the process.  They actually increased their attacking clip to .282 in the second, but lost by 10 points thanks to an errorless performance in which the Chargers racked up 19 kills on 34 tries and hit .559.

KSC's consistent offense carried them through, however, as they slowed down Colby-Sawyer late in the third and carried momentum from there to their fifth win of the season.
"It was a good performance by all and a team victory today," said Owls head coach Jake Girard.  "Our setters had all hitters in the positive with Rud over .700 and good serving by all too."

Sasnett hit .485 with a match-high 17 kills to pace the Chargers.

KSC will now turn their attention to the league opener this Friday at Spaulding Gymnasium against Eastern Connecticut State University (8-3) slated to begin at 6:00 p.m.  The Warriors will be coming off a six-day break after splitting a tri-match with Johnson & Wales University (R.I.) (L 3-2) and Vassar College (W 3-0).  The home team in the KSC/ECSU series has won each of the last five meetings.