La Plume, PA – Keystone College advanced to the Colonial States Athletic Conference volleyball semifinals by winning a dramatic, five-set thriller over Notre Dame of Maryland University in first round playoff action on Tuesday night in front of a boisterous crowd in the Gambal Athletic Center.  The #3 Giants, now 21-6 on the season, took the decisive fifth set 17-15 to set up a semifinal matchup at #2 Neumann University on Thursday night.
 
#1 Cabrini College will host #4 Immaculata University, a four-set winner of #5 Marywood University in Tuesday's other match, in the Thursday's other semifinal contest.  The semifinal winners will advance to Saturday's conference championship match which will be played at the site of the highest remaining seed with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.   
 
Notre Dame (15-10), who entered this fall's postseason tournament as the  #6 seed, pulled away late in Thursday's opening set for a 25-19 win before Keystone leveled the match by scoring the first six points of game two and cruising to a 25-16 victory.  The Giants forged a 2-1 lead with a hard-fought, 27-25 decision in the third frame as neither team held a lead greater than three points in the set.
 
The Gators built a 10-6 lead in the fourth game before Keystone battled back to tie the score at 16-16.  Notre Dame countered with the next four points of the stanza to set up a decisive fifth set.
 
Keystone scored the first two points of the fifth set, but the Gators rattled off seven unanswered points to hold a 7-2 lead.  The Giants battled back to within a point before Notre Dame used a four-point run to claim a 10-6 advantage.  The hosts then used a 6-1 run to hold a 12-11 edge and would hold match serve four times before finally putting Notre Dame away with a kill by Hannah Zuchowski (Wellsboro, PA/Wellsboro Area).
 
Zuchowski recorded a match-high 20 kills and rounded out her ninth double-double of the season with 11 digs to go along with a pair of aces.  Kristen Larkin (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) added 13 kills and a team-leading four aces while Taylor Beatty (Virginia Beach, VA/Ocean Lakes) posted nine kills on the night.  Ashley William had six kills, six digs, and two aces in the win.
 
Sydney Binkley (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) led Keystone with 25 assists to go along with seven digs while Carol Mosier (Hunlock Creek, PA/Lake-Lehman) picked up her eighth double-double of the year on 19 helpers and 16 digs.
 
Pamela Heitman (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas) led the Giants defensively with 22 digs while Victoria Homfeld (Smithtown, NY/Hauppauge) picked up eight digs in the win.
 
Shatia Silas (Belleville, NJ/Belleville) posted a season-high eight blocks for Keystone while Beatty added seven blocks on the night for Keystone, who hit .172 as a team.
 
Ashley Pasker led Notre Dame with 18 kills while Cassidy Keller added 11 kills.  Jaime Reyes dished out a match-best 38 assists to go along with 16 digs.  Cleaya Antes paced the Gators with 18 digs while Stephanie Roche added 14 digs for the visitors, who hit .119 on the evening.
 
The start time for Thursday's semifinal at Neumann is yet to be determined.  Keystone will be looking to avenge a three-set regular season setback to the Knights.