Volleyball Sweeps St. John’s to Improve to 2-0 on the Season
By Matt Faulkner
(Hamilton, NY- Aug. 31, 2013) The Colgate women’s volleyball team continued its impressive play on the second day of the Colgate Classic with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-15) win over St. John’s and got a big match from Diane Seely.
Colgate (2-0) saw Seely register a match-high 14 kills and she also added five blocks in the win. She hit over 61 percent, while the Raiders had another great hitting performance at 36.9 percent. The mainstays Caitlin Cremin and Kaylee Fifer had their typical match on the court as Cremin had 15 digs and three aces and Fifer added 33 assists.
“This is a big win for our program,” head coach Ryan Baker said. “Anytime you face a physical Big East opponent like St. Johns, it means a lot. Our effort was tremendous. Diane had a big match for us. She has really made some tremendous strides this summer and her hard work is paying off.”
St. John’s (2-1) leave the tournament after wins over Central Connecticut and Binghamton. The Red Storm struggled hitting the ball and getting around the blocks by Colgate. They hit just over six percent with 31 kills and 24 attack errors. Karin Palgutova led the way with 11 kills and Deniz Mutlugil had 24 assists.
The Raiders came out ready play and built up a 10-7 lead early in the match with Lindsay Young leading the way with three kills. The advantage ballooned up to 19-12 with Colgate going on a 9-5 run, highlighted by a pair of kills from Katie Reilly. Seely helped the Raiders close out the set with three of the final six points on kills, while Kenzie Hume put it away with a strike to win at 25-14.
The second set was back-and-forth early on with neither team earning more than a three-point lead. St. John’s had the largest advantage at 10-7. Colgate climbed back into the set to take a 12-11 lead on a kill from Seely. The Raiders didn’t give up that lead the rest of the way as they earned their largest lead at 19-13. The Red Storm never challenged after that and Kathleen Harris gave Colgate the 2-0 lead with a kill to end the set at 25-20.
Seely and Reilly helped the Raiders jump out of the chute for the third set with two strikes apiece and Colgate had an early 9-5 advantage. St. John’s got to within one at 11-10, but that was as close as the Red Storm got. The Raiders opened up a 20-12 lead with a 9-2 run, highlighted by two kills from Young and Harris, along with back-to-back aces from Cremin. At the end of the set, Colgate was aided by a few Red Storm errors and earned the sweep with a 25-15 win in the final set.
“This was a great team win and it goes to show the type of depth we have.”
The Raiders are back in action at 5 p.m. against Binghamton in the final match of the Colgate Classic.
Volleyball Sweeps Through Colgate Classic
Raiders Now 12-1 in Last 13 Home Matches
(Hamilton, NY – Aug. 31, 2013) After dropping its only set of the Colgate Classic, the Raiders took control and won the next three sets for a 3-1 (24-26, 25-21, 25-20, 25-11) win in the last match of the two-day tournament.
Colgate (3-0) was led by rookie Kathleen Harris as she put together a double-double with a match-high 15 kills and 12 digs. Diane Seely chipped in with 13 kills and eight total blocks. Kaylee Fifer was steady on the floor with 44 assists and nine digs. She also added five kills. Caitlin Cremin was the leader on the backline with a match-high 18 digs. Colgate owns Cotterell Court with 12 wins in its last 13 matches, dating back to last season.
“I was most pleased with this win because it shows the type of fight this team has,” head coach Ryan Baker said. “Binghamton was extremely scrappy with nothing to lose and we were forced to truly earn this victory, which we did. I thought everyone on the entire roster stepped up and greatly contributed to this tournament championship.”
Binghamton (0-3) was a tough bunch against the Raiders today and it showed in the first set. Kristin Hovie finished with 15 kills and Grace Vickers added 11. Amanda Dettman had 32 assists and Xiomara Ortiz posted 17 digs.
The Bearcats came out in the first set ready to play despite playing Central Connecticut in the2 p.m. match. They built a 12-7 advantage thanks to a 5-0 run with kills by Hovie and Megan Burgess. Colgate was able to slowly chip away at the lead and ended up tying the set at 21-21 with four-straight points. Binghamton responded with a 3-0 run to close out the set at 26-24 with an ace and two Raider errors.
Colgate responded in the second set, but it took a come-from-behind effort. The Raiders were down 12-10, but were able to take a 17-15 lead after a couple of errors by the Bearcats. The teams went back-and-forth before Colgate took a 22-21 lead on a Katie Stebbins kill and then Seely added one to make it 23-21 advantage. After a pair of Binghamton errors, the match was tied at 1-1 with a 25-21 win for the Raiders in the second set.
The momentum carried into the third set as Colgate opened up a 10-3 with seven-straight points, highlighted by two serviced aces by Allie Dyer. The Bearcats tried to cut into the lead and made it 16-13 after an ace from Ortiz and a Colgate error. The Raiders fended off a late charge and took a 21-16 lead with Lindsay Young and Harris adding strikes. The set ended with a kill by Stebbins and the Raiders had a 2-1 lead with a 25-20 win in the third set.
The third set was not a competitive one as the Raiders came out on fire and scored 10-straight points with Hannah Donnelly adding an ace and multiple Bearcat errors led to the largest lead of the tournament for Colgate. Binghamton was able to get some points back, but Mari Faines and Seely put the match away with kills. The Raiders improved to 3-0 on the season and won nine of the 10 sets they played in the tournament.
Harris, Seely and Fifer were Colgate’s representatives on the All-Tournament Team.
“We need to build upon this weekend and get ready for yet another challenging, but exciting brand of volleyball at the Yale tournament,” Baker added.
The Raiders are on the road next weekend at the Yale Invitational and will take on the hosts, along with Seton Hall and Missouri.