La Plume, Pa. – Keystone College advanced to the Colonial States Athletic Conference semifinals for the third year in a row with a thrilling, five set victory over Immaculata University in the first round of the CSAC playoffs on Tuesday evening in the Gambal Athletic Center.  The fourth-seeded Giants improve to 14-16 overall and will visit second-seeded Neumann University on Thursday night for a semifinal matchup.   
 
Malley Bowen (Owego, N.Y./Tioga Central) set a Keystone single-match record with 57 assists on the evening and also broke the Giants' single-season record for assists, surpassing Carol Mosier's previous single season program record of 804 in 2013.  The sophomore setter now has 842 helpers this fall.   
 
Immaculata (9-12) took a 12-7 lead in Tuesday night's first set before Keystone went on a 7-1 run to claim a 14-13 edge.  The Mighty Macs would go back in front by three points, but the Giants surged in front 23-22 before the visitors knotted the set up.  Keystone would prevail though, winning the set 26-24 with a service ace by Nicki Yeager (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) giving the hosts the 1-0 lead.
 
In the second set, the Giants staked out a 10-6 advantage, but Immaculata countered with the next four points to level the frame up at 10-apiece.  Bowen recorded her record-breaking assist as Keystone took a 15-14 edge, but the Mighty Macs scored four of the next five points to take an 18-15 lead.  The Giants pulled to within a single point four times the rest of the frame, but Immaculata held on for a 25-23 decision to level the match at 1-1.
 
In game three, Keystone held the early advantage to Immaculata was able to forge ahead, 18-14.  The Giants came back to tie the set at 19-19, but the Mighty Macs went up 22-19 with the next three points. Keystone countered with a 4-0 run to take a 23-22 edge.  Immaculata tallied the final three points of the set though to take a 2-1 advantage in the match with another 25-23 set win.
 
The Giants came out strong in the fourth set, scoring the first four points before opening up a 15-7 advantage.  The hosts upped the lead to 19-9 and would cruise to a 25-17 victory to set up the decisive fifth set.
 
Trailing 4-3 early in the fifth game, Keystone reeled off six straight points to build a 9-4 lead.  The Mighty Macs countered with three of the next four points to pull to within 10-7.  The two teams traded a pair of points each before a Kristen Larkin (Williamstown, N.J./Williamstown) kill put the Giants up 13-9.  The visitors pulled to within three points at 14-11 before another kill by Larkin ended the match and sent Keystone into the conference semifinals for the third straight year.
 
Amanda Hardy (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) led Keystone with 16 kills on the night, Larkin put down 15 kills, and Taylor Beatty (Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes) contributed 14 kills.  Nicole Frascati (Yonkers, N.Y./Yonkers) came up big off the bench in the final two sets, totaling seven kills in the final two frames to help lift the Giants to the win.
 
Victoria Homfeld (Smithtown, N.Y./Hauppauge) picked up a match-high 25 digs to lead five Keystone players in double-figure digs.  Larkin collected 19 digs, Yeager had 11 digs, and Bowen and Erika Schwoyer (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom) added 10 digs apiece.
 
Beatty and Hardy led all players at the net with five blocks apiece while Shannon Monahan (Manalapan, N.J./Freehold) added four blocks on the night.

Yeager served up a match-best four aces for the hosts while Homfeld added three aces in the win.
 
Keystone hit .228 as a team in the victory.
 
Immaculata's Gabrielle Guerrera led all players with 19 kills on the night, Arden Vizzard had 18 kills, and Olivia Zdradzinski totaled 10 kills for the Mighty Macs, who hit .238 as a team in the loss.
 
Zdradzinski also led the Mighty Macs with 34 assists while Vizzard picked up a team-best 23 digs in the season-ending defeat for Immaculata, who was swept by the Giants in the regular season.
 
Sixth-seeded Notre Dame of Maryland, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win in five sets at #3 Marywood University on Tuesday night, will visit top-seeded Cabrini University in Thursday night's other semifinal.  The winners of Thursday's matches will advance to the CSAC championship match on Saturday with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.