La Plume, Pa. – Keystone College's volleyball team advanced to its first-ever Colonial States Athletic Conference championship match with an exciting, three-set sweep of #3 Neumann University in a CSAC semifinal contest on Thursday night in the Gambal Athletic Center.  The second-seeded Giants will travel to top-seeded Cabrini University for Saturday's title match with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
 
Keystone improved to 21-9 on the season while extending its winning streak to nine matches with its 16^th sweep of the year and fourth in a row.  The Giants also tied last fall's win total which ranks second in program history, trailing only the 1992 squad that went 22-9.

Keystone will be looking for its first-ever win over Cabrini (17-14), who defeated #5 Notre Dame of Maryland in three sets in Thursday's other semifinal.  The Cavaliers hold an 8-0 all-time record over the Giants including a three-set decision in the regular season meeting between the two teams on October 6 at Cabrini.
 
In order to reach Saturday's championship tilt, Keystone had to battle past a feisty Neumann squad on Thursday night.  Tied 10-10 in the opening set, the Giants used an 8-3 run to take control of the first game before closing out a 25-19 decision on a Kristen Larkin (Williamstown, N.J./Williamstown) kill.
 
The second set was a back and forth battle that saw the Knights take a 16-15 lead before Keystone eight straight points to claim a 23-16 advantage.  Neumann climbed to with three points at 24-21 before a service error gave the Giants a 25-21 decision and a 2-0 lead in the match.   
 
Keystone looked to put the contest away by racing out to an 11-3 lead in the third set, but the Knights persisted and drew to within a point at 17-16.  The hosts pushed their lead to 21-18, but Neumann scored the next five points to claim a 23-21 edge.  Back-to-back kills from Taylor Beatty (Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes) followed by a Hannah Zuchowski (Wellsboro, Pa./Wellsboro Area) brought Keystone to set point, but the visitors fended it off with a kill.  The Giants went up 25-24 when the Knights were whistled for a ball-handling error and Dana Carey (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) then ended the match with her third service ace as Keystone prevailed, 26-24.
 
Beatty finished with a match-high 11 kills while Zuchowski put down 10 kills to go along with seven digs and three aces for the Giants, who posted a .212 hitting percentage on the night.  Larkin and Amanda Hardy (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) chipped in with five kills apiece in the win.
 
Malley Bowen (Owego, N.Y./Tioga Central) dished out a team-high 26 assists to pair with six digs while Pamela Heitman (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas) led all players with 20 digs on the night while handing out five helpers.  Maddie Roat (Frederick, Md./Tuscarora) picked up six digs for Keystone, who got a pair of blocks from Bowen, Hardy, Beatty, and Shannon Monahan (Manalapan, N.J./Freehold).
 
Hayley Glah paced Neumann with 10 kills while Melanie Malseed added nine digs as the Knights hit .238 in the loss.
 
Carlee Herrin led all players with 34 assists while Nikki Collevechio had 11 digs to top four Knights with double-digit digs.  Neumann (18-17) will wait until Monday for a potential ECAC Tournament bid to continue its season.
 
Saturday's CSAC championship between Keystone and Cabrini is tentatively scheduled to start at 5:00 p.m. in Radnor, Pennsylvania.