The volleyball team enjoyed a perfect start to Patriot League play at home last weekend by sweeping both Lafayette and Lehigh. The Lafayette match proved to be an historic one for junior libero Jackie Adlam, while the Lehigh match proved to be a total whitewash. The wins extended Colgate’s winning streak to five matches and evened the Raiders’ season record at 7-7.

Colgate defeated the Leopards 30-21, 30-24 and 30-19. Adlam led an outstanding team defensive effort by recording 31 digs (17 in the third game) to break her own single game record of 30. She also broke the Colgate career digs record of 1,318, which was previously held by Becca Galves ’94. The fans in Cotterell Court burst into applause when Adlam’s achievements were announced over the public address system.

“To only be a junior, that’s what’s so impressive. Jackie is the epitome of what I look for when I’m talking about hard work and passionate, coming ready to play,” Head Coach Ryan Baker said after the match. “To have 31 digs in three games is probably one of the greatest things I’ve seen from the bench. We gave her the game ball after the match, and it was well deserved.”

Adlam gave much of the credit to her teammates.

“They kept hitting the ball to me, and our block did a great job setting it up for our defense,” she said. “All of our hitters stepped up for each other.”

Colgate started off slowly, but quickly picked up the intensity. The team blitzed Lafayette with a 16-4 run to win the first game. Games two and three were less difficult, as the Raiders led from start to finish both times.

Adlam’s classmate, Merryl Pohl, led the Raider offense with 14 kills. First-year Casey Ritt had a career-high 12 kills and contributed five total blocks on defense. Sophomore Kelsea Loveless added eight kills and classmate Meghan Fanta had 43 assists.

Colgate picked up where it left off from the previous night against Lehigh on Saturday afternoon. The Raiders led game one by as many as 16 points and won handily, 30-14. Game two was much different, as there were 14 ties and seven lead changes. The score was tied at 25 late, but Colgate won five of the final six points to take control of the match. The first half of game three was dead even, but a 5-2 Colgate run gave them a 20-17 lead. The Raiders slowly pulled away for a 30-26 victory to take the match.

Adlam had 19 digs to give her 50 for the weekend. Ritt, junior Katrina Zawojski, and senior Erin Kanetzke each had nine kills as part of a balanced offensive Raider attack. Pohl added seven kills, while Fanta had 37 assists, eight digs and two kills of her own.

Adlam is now within 251 digs of the all-time Patriot League record of 1,588. Still, both the team and player have more immediate targets. Colgate travels to Bucknell tomorrow night before hosting regional rival Binghamton on Tuesday.