Big Win: Raider Volleyball Upsets First-Place Lafayette
The Raider volleyball team may have begun to turn its season around on Saturday, upsetting Lafayette in four games to end a seven-match losing streak. The first game was characteristic of the team’s recent play, as Lafayette scored a comfortable 30-23 win. But the second game was a different story, as Colgate had 14 kills against four errors and had a .323 hitting percentage, while Lafayette had just 10 kills, eight errors and a .051 hitting percentage. The resulting 30-27 win for Colgate spurred it on to take the next two games, 30-27 and 30-22, respectively, to claim the team’s first win since beating Quinnipiac on September 11. Senior Laurel Oliver led the offensive push with 15 kills on 32 attempts and contributed 10 digs on defense. She also had a hitting percentage of .406, the second consecutive game in which she has hit over .400. Sophomore Marybeth Maziarz also had a double-double, recording 15 kills and 11 digs. Junior Allie Nichols recorded all 40 of Colgate’s assists, to go along with seven kills on 19 attempts, eight digs and five blocks, two of them solo. First-year Sheila Giovannini contributed nine kills, two solo blocks and one block assist. Classmate Jeanne Castel, playing only her third collegiate match after joining the team just last week, had three kills on five attempts and no errors, for a hitting percentage of .600.She also contributed one dig and one block assist. Senior Natalie Rawson continued her outstanding season with 29 digs and two service aces, whilefirst-year Nicole Notrica added a career-high five digs. The previous night, Colgate lost to Lehigh in four games. Lehigh began the match with a hard-fought 30-28 win, but the Raiders promptly responded with a resounding 30-22 victory of their own. However, Colgate could not keep the momentum going, as Lehigh dominated the final two games, 30-21 and 30-18, respectively, to secure the match. Oliver had one of the best statistical games of her career in the loss.She hit with a career-high percentage of .483 and led all players with 19 kills on 29 attempts. She also had two digs, one assist, one service ace and one block assist. Giovannini recorded nine kills on 25 attempts and had two blocks, while Nichols had 38 assists and two service aces. Rawson added eight digs, snapping a streak of 16 consecutive matches with at least 10 digs, and junior Meghaan Walsh also recorded eight digs. In her first game back from a stress fracture that healed sooner than team doctors initially anticipated, Maziarz had five kills on 13 attempts, along with three digs. The 1-1 trip through Pennsylvania leaves the Raider record at 4-9 overall on the season, including a 1-2 record in Patriot League play. Colgate plays two home games at Cotterell Court this weekend, beginning with a contest against American tonight at 7:00 p.m. The Raiders then face off against Navy tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.