WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Keene State College women's volleyball team had four players reach double-digits in both kills and digs, paced by a shining 20 kills and 21 digs by rookie standout
Bella Bacon, as the Owls used a sizzling offense to down Eastern Connecticut State University 3-2 (22-25, 25-18, 25-21, 22-25, 15-13) in the conference opener for both teams at Geissler Gymnasium on Saturday.
The Owls (6-5, 1-0 LEC) recorded a sizzling 68 kills while making just 18 errors, hitting an impressive .265 – and outhitting the Warriors (7-4, 0-1 LEC) by over 100 points. KSC did not make an error in the decisive fifth set, getting a kill on 10 out of 15 points with Bacon accounting for four of them while adding four digs. The Owls had leads of 4-1 and 6-3 early, but Eastern did not go away, reeling off five straight on two aces by Lauren Lacy and kills by Brooke Praskieivicz and Lauren Mosca to take an 8-6 lead. It came down to the wire from there, with KSC scoring four straight to go back up two, only to see the home team fire down four consecutive kills to go up 12-10 and seemingly put the Owls in trouble.
Alexis Small and
Marina Miller answered to tie the match for the 28th time out of 29 before Emma Robinson's swing gave ECSU a 13-12 lead, but it was KSC who had the final deciding run, as a kill by Miller and a critical block of Robinson by
Aiya Dottin and Small helped the Owls jump back in front 14-13. After
Colleen Fraser picked up a big dig off a swing from Robinson on the next point, Mosca's attack on the other side was long as KSC polished off their third straight win. The Owls have also emerged victorious a pair of five-set matches after dropping their previous two, including one against Worcester Polytechnic Institute on September 19 in which they had a set point opportunity in every frame. It all added up to a key win to begin conference play, snapping a four-game losing streak in Willimantic.
Although KSC had the statistical upper hand most of the day, it was a see-saw match the whole time, as Eastern rallied from a 17-14 deficit in the first set to take a three-point lead after an 8-2 run. The Owls scored three straight to tie it at 22, but a service error helped begin three straight points for the Warriors to take the match lead.
Keene State responded with a commanding 25-18 win in the second set, with Miller and Bacon combining for nine kills. Leading 10-9, the Owls used a 10-5 push to take a six-point lead and they had no trouble from there, going up 24-17 following kills by Miller and Fraser sandwiching an ace by
Ava Harkins.
The swing third frame played out in a similar fashion, with the Warriors rallying from an early 8-3 hole to tie it at 11. The hosts tied it twice more shortly thereafter, but KSC ensured a 2-1 match lead by scoring four straight – three on kills by Bacon and the other on a spike by
Reece Connors – to go in front 18-14, closing it out from there. Eastern got within 21-19 on a swing by Sierra York, but a kill and an ace by Miller in a three-point span pushed the lead back to five, and the Owls closed out the set on a block by Dottin.
The Warriors held off KSC in the fourth to force the match the distance, scoring four different times when the Owls got within one late, including a critical kill by Praskievicz to make it 24-22. Robinson then added one of her team-high matching 16 kills to close out the set. Praskievicz also had 16 kills and 14 digs for ECSU, who had a 13-4 edge in aces.
But Eastern Connecticut could never remotely slow KSC's offense, which saw Bacon hit .300 in her 20 kill, 21 dig effort. Fraser added 15 spikes and made just two errors while adding 18 digs, hitting .371. Miller and Connors also finished with 10 kills.
Shaunah Bracken tied Bacon with a team-high 21 digs, while Miller also had 15 as the Owls totaled 95 on the day to limit the Warriors' offense. Harkins had 27 assists and eight digs.
"Feeling great that we managed to find a way to win that fifth set," said KSC head coach Jake Girard. "I think my whole team showed great courage and played aggressively to the end. I think I have great captains and upper-class leadership that is really helping start to get the best out of this team. I could shout out everyone because they all had a good day, but really what makes us strong is that we all work together."
Keene State continues their stretch of important matches with a non-conference road contest at Bridgewater State University (7-3, 2-0 MASCAC) Monday (September 28) at 6:00 p.m. The Owls also visit the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth Friday night before hosting Plymouth State University and the University of Massachusetts-Boston the following week.
