KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College women's volleyball team likely felt a jolt from the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee-backed Owls 4 Owls crowd on Wednesday night, and, if they are able to hold up their end of the bargain, hope that is just a sign of things to come as they aim to be able to entertain their fans again come playoff time in three weeks. The Owls took another step toward that coming to fruition as they cruised to a 3-0 sweep of Vermont State University Castleton at Spaulding Gymnasium in Little East Conference action.
KSC (11-8, 4-2 LEC) picked up their fourth consecutive win and improved to 6-2 on their home court, moving within one win of ensuring a berth into the conference tournament which begins Tuesday, November 10 with the quarterfinals before the semifinals on November 12 and the championship on November 14. The Owls currently sit in fourth in the LEC, a game behind Plymouth State University and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and a game and a half behind the league-leading University of Massachusetts-Boston. The three teams above KSC combine for several head-to-head matchups against each other and provide the Owls an opportunity to move up in the standings after a 2-2 start (defeating ECSU and Plymouth while losing to UMass-Boston and UMass-Dartmouth) if they take care of business.
Tonight, they ensured they would do just that, as the Owls connected at a .337 attacking clip and had six people with at least six kills.
Marina Miller (.364 pct.) had nine spikes and 14 digs along with two aces led KSC while
Colleen Fraser added seven kills on an eye-popping .462 clip and
Aiya Dottin seven on .417 attacking.
Sarah Bartels,
Reece Connors, and
Bella Bacon all had six kills for the Owls, who have won 12 straight sets since a disappointing home defeat to UMass-Boston.
Castleton's (7-10, 0-5 LEC) only lead of the night came on an errant set in the match's very first point – and after that they were handled as KSC scored nine of the next 11 to go up 9-3 and a short time thereafter, just 18 points in, had already built a double-digit advantage on back-to-back swings by Bacon. The Spartans hung around, getting as close as six, but it was not nearly enough as KSC took the first set 25-17.
The home team also sprinted out of the gates on their way to a 2-0 match lead, scoring six of the first seven points to jump in front. Spikes by Bacon and Dottin in a three-point span made it 11-5, but Castleton notched five kills an ace to run off six in a row to force an unexpected tie. The Owls quickly restored order, though, with Miller earning consecutive points to stop the Spartans' rally and she served up an ace a short time later to make it 18-13. Leading 22-17, KSC closed the set with the final three points.
Three different Owls had kills to begin the fourth as the Owls opened a 5-2 edge quickly on consecutive points by Connors, Fraser, and Dottin and the home team never trailed, taking a 10-5 advantage on a spike by Bartels. KSC never saw their lead shrink to lower than three after that, scoring every time they needed to, including using a quick 4-1 burst to go up 17-11. Castleton made it 18-14 after an Owls' ball handling miscue, but KSC hit back with three straight kills to go up seven and ultimately closed out the match on a 7-2 burst to improve to 9-0 all-time against the Spartans.
Keene State will continue a four-game homestand with a Saturday (October 24) tri-match when they welcome Rhode Island College (9-10, 1-4 LEC) and Framingham State University (15-6, 4-2 MASCAC) at 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., respectively. The Anchorwomen seemed poised for a big conference win tonight at home against Eastern Connecticut but were reverse swept after winning the first two sets including by a 25-13 score in the second. Three of RIC's four conference losses are in five sets, including against UMass-Boston and Plymouth State.
