Raiders Sweep Bucknell; Seely Records 16 Kills
By Matt Faulkner
(Lewisburg, Pa. – Oct. 18, 2013) The Colgate women’s volleyball team recorded its second-straight sweep and this time it came in Patriot League play as the Raiders took down Bucknell with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-17) win on Friday night.
Colgate (14-6, 6-1 PL) was led by junior Diane Seely, who posted 16 kills and hit 50 percent for the second-straight match after doing the same against Albany on Wednesday. Lindsay Young contributed with 10 kills, while Kaylee Fifer had 35 assists and Kathleen Harris added 11 digs.
“I felt our team played great, especially given the tough atmosphere created by the crowd and the tough Bucknell defense,” head coach Ryan Baker said. “We put up great offensive numbers, but that is due to a strong passing and setting game. Overall, This was on the best matches I have seen us play from start to finish this season.”
The Bison (8-10, 1-7 PL) didn’t have an attacker reached double digits in kills, but had three players registering seven kills each. Rose Lewis and Meghan Wentzel shared setting duties with Lewis putting up 14 assists and Wentzel adding 12.
In the first set, the Raiders got out to a comfortable lead at 14-7 thanks to a run of five-straight points. Young started it with a kill, followed by an ace from Harris. Bucknell added a couple of errors and Colgate got an assisted block from Seely and Fifer up front. The Bison, however, stormed back with 10 of the next 13 points to get to within one at 17-16. The Raiders were able to hold off any rally from Bucknell the rest of the way and scored the final three points after the Bison cut the deficit to one again at 22-21. Colgate got kills from Seely and Harris and an ace by Jackie Macy to earn the 25-21 win.
The second set was a back-and-forth battle with neither team earning more than a two-point lead until the Bison went up 15-12 after three consecutive points. Colgate stayed within striking distance and while still down by three, the Raiders went on a 5-0 run to earn a two-point lead at 19-27 with Young adding two kills and Seely posting a service ace. Colgate closed out the match with six of the final nine points to take a 2-0 lead with a 25-20 win. Kate Reilly had a kill and an assisted block with Kenzie Hume to help the Raiders get the win.
Colgate had a tough start to the third set with Bucknell jumping out to a 7-3 lead. The Raiders were never out of it though as Colgate went on a 7-1 run to grab a 10-8 advantage. Young three-straight kills and Macy added another ace to highlight the run. The Bison never went away though. Bucknell came all the way back and took a 13-12 lead with Kristen Titley tallying the go ahead point with a kill. From there it was all Colgate. Bucknell had no answer as the Raiders scored an 11-3 run to help put away the match and earn a 25-17 win in the final set. Four different Raiders had kills during the run, led by Young and Seely, who had two each.