DANBURY, Conn. –
Sarah Bartels and
Marina Miller combined for 21 kills while both hitting near .300 individually as the Keene State College women's volleyball team punctuated their regular season on a high note, blowing past Western Connecticut State University in a 3-0 sweep (25-13, 25-19, 25-16) in Little East Conference action Saturday at the Feldman Arena.
KSC (17-9, 6-2 LEC) has won three straight and ten of their last 11 matches overall, with the lone loss to a nationally-relevant Smith College team last week, and ensured they will be the No. 3 seed in the Little East Conference tournament that begins Tuesday (November 10) with the quarterfinal round. The Owls will take on Vermont State University Castleton, who upset Rhode Island College for a five-set victory – with the Spartans taking the final frame 20-18 – to qualify for the conference playoffs for the first time since joining in what is the final year in the LEC.
The Owls withstood a massive swing in the opening set that saw WestConn (5-19, 1-7 LEC) turn a 14-7 deficit into an 18-16 lead, eventually scoring four of the final five to sneak away and take the match lead. A setter kill by
Alexis Small tied it at 22-22 before
Shaunah Bracken served an ace to put KSC back in front. Julia Stoliker answered with a kill, but Miller fired down a point of their own to give her team the first chance at a set point and
Ava Harkins brought it home with another ace.
Keene State then controlled each of the next two sets to finish off a sweep and move eight games over .500.
Reece Connors and
Alexis Small each had an ace as part of a 6-2 burst that helped the Owls break a 7-7 tie and take a 13-9 lead. The Wolves got within two three times after that to hang around, but
Aiya Dottin – KSC's impressive rookie – fired down two spikes to put her team ahead 21-17 and Small, who reached 200 career aces – just the fourth person in program history to do so – followed with another. The Owls closed a 25-19 set win on consecutive blocks, with Dottin being involved in both.
KSC earned the knockout blow midway through the third, with Dottin in the middle (literally and figuratively) of it again, as the Owls used a 10-2 surge to take a double-digit lead (19-9) after the Wolves got within 9-7. Dottin began the uprising with a kill, and then was part of three team blocks with Miller and Bartels on three of the next four points to help KSC lead 14-7. Bartels fired down three kills over the next six points while Miller added another and Bracken an ace to help KSC run away, and the visitors led by as many as 12 (23-11) down the stretch.
WestConn had no answers for the Owls, getting outhit .241 to .099 and also out-dug 59-43. Dottin had six kills on eight total swings, hitting .625, while Bartels had 11 kills and hit .292. Miller finished with 10 spikes and just two miscues, hitting .296 while adding 12 digs. Bracken had a match-high 18 digs while
Bella Bacon added 16 digs and five kills.
"It was an awesome way to end the (regular) year with our offense firing on all cylinders hitting .241," said Owls head coach Jake Girard. "Aiya and Marina led the way, and as a team we had nine blocks in three sets. We have been working on our blocking in practice and it is really getting to a high level. Aiya and Reece, and even Sarah and Marina are putting up great blocking numbers."
KSC snapped a four-game skid in the head-to-head series, which they lead 20-17. They had lost each of their last two visits to Danbury, not winning there since 2018 (3-1).
The Owls will be looking for a third conference championship this week, last taking home the hardware in 2022. Tuesday's match against Castleton (11-12, 2-6 LEC), which begins at 6:00 p.m., will also be KSC's first home playoff match since that year.
