MILTON, Mass. – The Keene State College women's volleyball team did not trail in either of the first two sets and ultimately led by double-digits in all three sets as they cruised to a 3-0 sweep (25-13, 25-21, 25-20) of Curry College in non-conference action Wednesday night at Katz Gymnasium.
It was a needed win for the Owls (8-8), who rebounded quickly from a disappointing home loss on Saturday to the University of Massachusetts-Boston and never let the struggling Colonels (4-15) get any momentum as they suffered their 11th consecutive defeat. It also allowed KSC to get all of their healthy rostered players action, with first year
Jess Sibenik notching four kills – the fourth-most on the team.
The Owls started strong and never looked back in what they hope will be a confidence-boosting week heading into the season's final stretch, with KSC visiting the University of Southern Maine (4-13, 0-3 LEC) and the University of Maine-Fort Kent (1-10) on Saturday as they look to move over .500.
KSC ran out to a 10-4 lead right away, with a
Reece Connors ace,
Aiya Dottin block, and
Colleen Fraser kill accounting for three straight points to cap off that opening surge. Curry got within four at 11-7, but as happened all night, they did not have nearly enough answers, as
Sarah Bartels fired down a kill and
Bella Bacon an ace in two of the next three points and the Owls later took a 16-8 lead. Three kills and two aces ballooned the advantage to double-digits at 21-10, and KSC racked up 13 kills and hit .423 while coasting to a 25-13 win in the opening set.
The second was more of the same, as the Owls scored the first three points and eventually used a 7-1 surge to turn a 6-4 advantage into an eight-point (13-5 lead). Four of the points in that uprising came from aces, including three consecutive scoring serves from
Bella Bacon. The Colonels never seriously threatened again, with KSC taking a 20-10 lead after tallying three straight, a stretch that included another stuff by Dottin and a kill by
Rebecca Tinkler. An ace did bring the home team within 23-19, but a kill by
Stella Andresen closed out a 25-21 victory that gave KSC a 2-0 match lead.
Curry's lone lead all night came when they scored four of the first five points in the third as they looked to avoid a sweep and another defeat in their long losing streak, but KSC reassumed control quickly, answering back with a 9-2 burst to take a 10-6 lead with Bacon scoring two of the final three points of the rally on kills. Leading 12-10, a spike by
Marina Miller kicked off a 9-1 run mostly powered by the Owls' youth, as Sibenik had a block and a kill in that span and
Liv Lowell an ace. The Colonels chopped their 21-11 deficit to four again – and again at 23-19 – but an attacking error for the home team brought up match point and Dottin's swing two points later sent the Owls home with their fifth win – all sweeps – in series history.
Bacon finished with seven kills on 12 total attempts (.500 pct.) while adding seven digs and five of the Owls' 15 aces. Miller added six kills and five digs while Dottin was perfect on five swings, finding the floor five times.
Alexis Small finished with 12 assists and five digs while
Shaunah Bracken had a team-best 10 digs.
Isabella Drake had 10 of Curry's 21 total kills. The Colonels, who nearly snapped their losing skid at Western New England University before losing in five sets, were outhit .287 to .057, were minus-10 in aces, and had just one block.
"We hit really well as a team and had the opportunity to see some new faces out there so it was a true team effort," said KSC head coach Jake Girard. "We have a deep bench and a lot of really good players coming up through the pipeline this year. We have some good stuff going on, and the future is bright too. Olivia Lowell's serves were incredible and she distributed a good offense. We had some great swings from some up-and-coming right sides with Claire (Jorgensen) and Jess (Sibenik). Jess had some awesome blocks too."
The Owls' tri-match in Gorham against the Huskies and Bengals on Saturday will begin at 12:00 p.m., with the second match about 30 minutes after. KSC currently sits at 2-2 in league play, beating Plymouth State University and Eastern Connecticut State University while falling to UMass-Boston and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. They currently sit in fifth place, though all four of their remaining league matches are against teams currently below them in the conference standings while the top four have numerous matchups against each other in the regular season's final three weeks.
