Women’s Volleyball Goes Perfect over the Weekend
Sophomore outside hitter Alli Lowe (right) has played a fantastic season for the Raiders, ranking 8th in the league in kills.
Colgate Raiders Women’s Volleyball is killing the game. The team swept their competition this past weekend, defeating both Army West Point and Lafayette by the scores of 3-0. These games represent crucial Patriot League victories for Colgate against opponents they will be jockeying with for position.
Last weekend, during the Bicentennial Celebration, the Raiders Women’s Volleyball squad came away with a win and a loss, but not without building crucial momentum for the Patriot League slate ahead. In the match they lost against Holy Cross, Colgate did not lose a set by a margin of more than two points. This reflected the tenacity of the team when faced with deficits late in games. They capitalized on that momentum in the second match of the weekend, crushing Army 3-0. Sophomore Alli Lowe starred in those games for Colgate and continued to ride the wave of confidence this past weekend.
The Leopards of Lafayette University were completely outmatched on Friday versus Colgate. This was apparent from the first set of play (25-12 Colgate) in which the Leopards could not string together more than two points in a row. The Raiders held a strong defensive effort throughout the set. Lafayette showed up to play in the second set, however, at one point taking the lead over Colgate. This Women’s Volleyball squad is cut different, though–the team’s clutch genes kicked into high gear as the Raiders went on a stellar 9-1 run to steal the win in the second set, 25-18. The third set ended by the same score of the second, and Colgate had secured a dominant 3-0 victory in a crucial preliminary league match.
Lowe again shined for Colgate against Lafayette, leading the team with a phenomenal 16 kills. She and fellow offensive specialist junior Alex Stein are 8th and 9th, respectively, in the Patriot League leaderboard in kills. Stein had the second-most kills on the team in this match with a total of 9. Defensive specialist sophomore Bridget Kolsky had 15 digs in this match, helping vault her season total to 211, good for 6th in the Patriot League.
Saturday’s match was #EllaStrong night, a philanthropic effort to help raise aware- ness for pediatric cancer. All donations from the game went to the Ryan family, whose daughter Ella is battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia.Since March, she has been receiving treatment at the Upstate Cancer Center in Syracuse. The game raised proceeds to combat the high transportation and medical costs for the Ryan family.
Riding the wave of optimism from the previous day’s match and the moving showing for #EllaStrong, Colgate yet again dominated, defeating Bucknell 3-0.
In the first set, the Raiders again prevented their opponent from getting hot, limiting the Bison’s offense to a maxi- mum of three points scored in a row. Colgate went on a 7-1 run to end the first set, winning handily 25-14. Bucknell’s offense woke up from its drought in the second set, stringing together a few potent scoring runs. No matter — the Raiders’ defense held strong to finish the set 25-19. Colgate excelled in the sixth and final set of the weekend to secure the 3-0 match victory. It was Stein’s time to shine on Saturday, blast- ing a total of 18 kills into Cotterrell Court. Overall, the Raiders went a spotless 6-0 in the weekend’s sets and limited their opponents game-high score to 19 points.
The next wave of games presents the toughest challenge for women’s volleyball: 2nd place Navy and 1st place American (who took the Patriot League title in 2017) on October 5 and 6, respectively. If these past two weekends indicate anything, though, Colgate is capable of slaying these giants and taking control of the Patriot League once and for all.
Contact Theo Asher at [email protected].
