Volleyball Snaps Six-Game Slide

The Raiders volleyball team broke a six-game losing streak by defeating Lehigh in five games on Saturday night. It was only Colgate’s second win in its last 15 matches, but the Raiders fought hard throughout and were finally rewarded in a tight fifth game, winning it 15-12.Colgate helped its cause with 58 total kills against just 29 errors. Lehigh won the first game, 30-25, but the Raiders responded with successive 30-24 and 30-28 wins. The Mountain Hawks would not quit though, winning the fourth game 21-30 to set up the decisive fifth game. That game was not decided until first-year Sheila Giovannini recorded a kill to take the final point.Junior Allie Nichols led the way with her first career triple-double. Nichols hit .263 with 17 kills on 38 attempts, to go along with 35 assists and 13 digs. She also had five aces and a block assist.Senior Laurel Oliver and Giovannini also had big offensive games. Oliver matched Nichols’ 17 kills on 46 attempts and added nine digs and three aces. Giovannini had 15 kills on 35 attempts and contributed four total blocks. First-year Erin Kanetzke had seven kills, two aces and eight digs.First-year Nicole Notrica, junior Meghaan Walsh and senior Natalie Rawson all made key contributions on defense. Notrica recorded two aces, 18 assists and eight digs. Walsh led the Raiders with 19 digs. Rawson had 17 digs, giving her a career total of 1,038, placing her fifth on Colgate’s all-time list.Michelle Schwendenmann had a match-high 29 kills on 67 attempts to lead Lehigh. Jill Racketa hit .400 with 16 kills on 30 attempts, to go along with 23 digs and four block assists, Nikky Barnes had eight kills and 15 digs, while Kathleen Lafferty posted a match-high 61 assists.The previous night, Lafayette avenged Colgate’s only other Patriot League victory this season by sweeping the Raiders, 30-21, 30-25 and 32-30. Nichols recorded a double-double with 20 assists and 16 kills and narrowly missed another triple-double, digging nine balls. Oliver hit .357 and killed 14 of her 28 opportunities, while Notrica had 16 assists and four digs. Rawson led all players with 16 digs.Veronica Canto-Ponce led the Leopards with 13 kills on 29 attempts and eight digs. Maura Kelly hit .450 with 12 kills on 20 attempts. Michaela Donohue added eight kills and 11 digs. Lauren Dalsky also posted 11 digs to tie for the team lead. Heidi Olichwier had three aces, 39 assists, and seven digs.The mixed weekend results give the Raiders a 5-15 overall record, 2-8 in league play. Colgate now hits the road for the final time this season, visiting Navy tonight, followed by a short trip to Washington, D.C. to play American tomorrow.