Volleyball Defeats Keene and Falls to Western Connecticut

Danbury, Conn. – The Framingham State University volleyball team split a pair of games with Keene State College and Western Connecticut State University this afternoon at Feldman Arena. The Rams opened the day defeating Keene State 3-0, before falling 3-0 to the Colonials.  Western Connecticut dropped the day's first match 3-2 against the Owls.

In the day's first match,  Keene State won a very tight first set, 25-23, and then took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-20 win in set two.  Western bounced back, taking the next two sets, 25-20 and 25-19, setting up a decisive fifth set.

In the final set, Western rushed out to an early 4-0 lead, but Keene State stormed back to lead 8-5 at the change-over.  Trailing 14-12 and facing match point, Western won two consecutive points for a 14-14 tie.  On Western's next serve, freshman Brittany Steele (Massapequa, NY) hit what appeared to be an ace, but the ball was called long, and Keene State closed out the match on the game's next point for a 16-14 win, and a 3-2 victory for the match.

Sophomore Karissa Smith (Bristol, CT) led the Western hitting attack with 16 kills and had 21 digs on defense.  Sophomore Danielle Kaminsky (Southington, CT) led Western with 42 assists, while senior Nina Wojtkiewicz (Griswold, CT) had 22 digs on the defensive end for the Colonials.

Leaders for Keene State included junior Madeleine Nossiff (Portsmouth, NH) with 13 kills, junior Alexis Michal (Windham, NH) with 33 assists, and sophomore Leslie Hearns (Bedford, NY) with 31 digs.

In the day's second match, Framingham State defeated Keene State in straight sets, 25-22, 25-18, and 25-13.

Leaders for Framingham State were sophomore Alycia Rackliffe (Feeding Hills, MA) with 11 kills and seven digs, senior Maribeth Martin (Barnstable, MA) with 19 assists, and junior Danielle Girard (Tivoli, NY) with 16 digs.

For Keene State, junior Angela Silveri (Poughquag, NY) led with seven kills, Michal had 13 assists, and Hearns had 19 digs.

In the final match of the day, Western rebounded from its earlier loss to Keene State and handed Framingham State a 3-0 defeat winning by scores of 25-20, 25-14, and 25-20.

Smith again led the Western hitting attack with 10 kills, followed by senior Heather Williams (Kingston, NY) with seven kills.  Kaminsky led the Colonials with 29 assists.  Smith added 17 digs on defense, followed by senior Nina Wojtkiewicz (Griswold, CT) and sophomore Cady Cordes (Fallon, NV) who each had 16 digs.

For Framingham State, Rackliffe led with 11 kills, senior Morgan Drew (South Easton, MA) had 18 assists and Martin had 17 assists, and Girard led in digs with 15.

With the split on the day, Western moves to 18-8 on the season and 2-2 in the Little East Conference.  Keene State now stands at 12-14 and 3-1 in the LEC.  Framingham State ends the day with an overall record of 16-8. 

The Rams are back in action on Tuesday evening when they host Bridgewater State University at 6 p.m.