BRIDGEWATER, Mass. –
Marina Miller and
Reece Connors combined for 25 kills while making just two errors, but the Keene State women's volleyball team ultimately was unable to overcome a slow start as they lost to Bridgewater State University 3-2 (17-25, 13-25, 25-17, 25-12, 12-15) in a non-conference matchup Monday night at the Adrian Tinsley Center.
Fresh off winning the conference opener in a thrilling five-set match on Saturday, KSC (6-6) got off to a slow start, dropping the first to sets by a combined 20 points while combining for 14 kills and 17 attacking errors. The Owls never led in the opening set, allowing 15 of the first 20 points and never fully recovering. They got as close as four (19-15) after
Colleen Fraser's kill, but the Bears (8-3) immediately answered with four in a row to double their lead. The second frame turned even further south, as KSC found themselves down 8-1 after allowing eight straight points and eventually 16-3. The Owls were never closer than nine, falling 25-13.
The match turned quickly midway through the third, with KSC fighting back thanks to an 8-2 burst to erase an early 8-3 deficit that seemed to have them headed toward being swept, particularly after Charlotte Sullivan posted three consecutive aces. But the Owls had other ideas, taking an 11-10 edge on Miller's service ace. Bridgewater State led just once more, 12-11, in the set, with KSC taking a three-point edge (17-14) on consecutive spikes by Fraser. An ace by
Shaunah Bracken made it 19-15, and the Owls pulled away from there, scoring six of the final seven points punctuated by two kills by Connors to make it a 2-1 match.
KSC dominated the Bears to force a deciding fifth set, never trailing in a fourth set that saw them open a 6-1 lead early and expand their advantage to 13-5 after another run of four consecutive points. Five consecutive spikes – two by
Sarah Bartels, two by
Aiya Dottin, and another by Fraser, pushed the Owls in front 19-7 and they rolled from there, polishing off an impressive 25-12 set victory after a kill by Miller and ace by Fraser. Across the third and fourth set wins by Keene State, the visitors combined for an eye-popping 31 kills while making just three attacking errors. They hit a whopping .528 in their two set victories.
However, they could not pull through in the fifth despite another strong offensive set (seven kills, two errors) because the Bears' offense got going again, compiling 10 kills on .233 hitting to beat KSC in five sets for the second consecutive season. The Owls took an early 5-4 lead on swings by Connors and Miller, but much like Saturday, it was a rollercoaster deciding set, as the home team answered with four straight to go up three. Down 9-6, KSC got a kill from Dottin following a Bears timeout to nudge back in front 10-9. Dottin stuffed Ava Crane for an 11-10 edge, but the Owls could not close it out, as kills by Janasia Brandao and Lily Welch put the hosts up for good. A bad set put KSC down two, and despite Dottin accounting for another kill to make it 13-12, Sullivan and Kesmyn Alves closed out a win for Bridgewater, their third straight as they moved over .500 at home (3-2).
It was another match the Owls controlled statistically, outhitting the Bears .216 to .173 while finishing plus-7 in kills, plus-7 in assists, and plus-14 in digs, but Bridgewater aced KSC 12 times with Sullivan finishing with six.
Connors hit .563 in the middle while adding four digs for the Owls, while Miller's team-leading 14 kills came on .364 hitting with 15 digs. Bracken had 16 digs and
Alexis Small 23 assists.
Welch had 11 kills on 38 total swings, hitting .237, while Crane had 10 kills and hit .108. Sullivan – perhaps the player of the match – had eight kills and one error while hitting .467, adding six aces, four block assists, and four digs.
"We came out slow in the first and second sets, and you just can't do that…we have to be ready to play volleyball off the bus," said Keene State head coach Jake Girard.
"We could have thrown in the towel and called it a night, but we showed some great fight and never gave up in the third, fourth, and fifth…we just came up a little short in the fifth," he added. "Our middles (Reece and Aiya) are strong, we have to find ways to get them more balls. It was a slower night of production from the outsides beside Marina…she offensively played great."
The Owls are back out on the road to take on the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (7-6) in an important conference matchup on Friday (October 2) at 6:00 p.m. The Corsairs will not have played since September 22 – a 3-0 win over Thomas College that ended a string of three losses in four matches at the New England Volleyball Classic – at the time of first serve.
