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EL PASO, Texas – Kennesaw State Volleyball gave UTEP all it could handle in the first three sets, and nearly became just the sixth team to win at least two sets over the Miners this year, but came up just short in a pivotal set three as the Owls fell 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-10) to the Miners in the regular season finale for both teams on Saturday afternoon.
KSU finishes the regular season 13-16, but 10-8 in conference action to earn a fourth-place finish. The Owls will be the fourth seed in next week's 2024 CUSA Tournament, and will open up the quarterfinals against fifth-seed Middle Tennessee on Friday, Nov. 22, at 4 p.m. (ET). This year's tournament is hosted by UTEP.
STAT OF THE GAME: The Owls kept it close thanks to hitting .324, .219 and .250 in the first three sets. Set four however saw KSU limited to a -.091.
THE RUNDOWN – After its loss on Friday night, it was a different Owl team that came out on Saturday. A kill from freshman
Kiernan Stamey and
Olivia Burrage, and an ace from
Manu Johnsen was part of a 4-0 spurt to put the Owls ahead 6-2 and KSU never gave up the lead, eventually closing out the set for a 1-0 lead. Set two was back and forth until the Miners broke a 14-14 tie with a 5-0 run on the way to a set win which tied the match at 1-1. In set three, neither team could get a lead larger than three points, and the Owls were the first to set point at 24-23 thanks to Stamey kill, before three straight Miner points saved the set for the home team and gave them a 2-1 lead. With momentum against them, the Owls would drop the fourth set and the overall match 3-1.
POSTGAME QUOTES
KSU HEAD COACH KEITH SCHUNZEL
"Couldn't be prouder of our team today for the fight and response after getting absolutely smoked last night. We played three high level sets today and had a set point in the third to go up 2-1 in the match. In the 4th their serve really got to our passers and they took the momentum early, for multiple unfortunate reasons, and we couldn't keep it close.
Finishing fourth in this league with all our youth and injuries is something that I hope everyone in our program is proud of and will remember. I am so proud of this group's willingness to stay the course and continue to push forward day by day and week by week. Our team grew tremendously this fall from where we started in August."
NOTES
-Johnsen paced KSU with a team-high 16 kills.
-Turning in a strong performance was Stamey with 11 kills and a team-best .550 hitting percentage.
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Kaeley Walz led the team in assists with 22, while
Leah Freeman had a team-best 19 digs. Burrage and Stamey tied for the team lead with five total blocks each.
