Colgate women’s volleyball continued its strong-starting season this past weekend by traveling to University of Albany for an invitational. The Raiders faced Temple University on Friday, September 1 and participated in matches against the University of Albany and St. John’s University on Saturday, September 2. While the Raiders extended its undefeated season by winning its first two matches against Temple and UAlbany, the team suffered its first season lost against St. John’s on the invitational’s second day.

The women’s volleyball team was off to a strong start on Friday as it started off the weekend defeating Temple. Colgate swept all three matches, defeating the Owls 25-20, 25-14 and 25-12. The Raiders entered the rest of the invitational now 4-0, while the Owls fell to 1-3. Junior outside hitter Katie Stansbury had a remarkable performance with 11 kills while first-year outside hitter Alli Lowe also impressed fans with 10 kills. Junior libero/defensive specialist Peighton McRobie led the team with 12 digs. All in all, the Raiders had nine team blocks and a season high of seven service aces. Head Coach Ryan Baker described the Raiders as “firing on all cylinders against a really good team.” 

The Raiders then took on UAlbany to continue its best season start since 1991, beginning the year off 5-0. The Raiders only gave up one game loss to UAlbany winning the match 3-1 (25-17, 25-19, 22-25, 25-19). Baker described the match against Albany as a battle and that the Raiders were able to find a way to win. The team’s winning run eventually came to an end after their UAlbany match as the Raiders fell to St. John’s.

Although St. John’s gave the Raiders their first season loss, all the matches were closely contested. During the three matches, the teams experienced many ties and during the second match no team led by more than three at any point. The Raiders came up on the short end of all three matches against St. John’s University but by slim margins. The final scores of the matches were 30-32, 22-25, 14-25. Despite the first loss of the season, the Colgate Raiders still performed. Baker noted it was a disappointing way to conclude the invitational, but acknowledged the good things the Raiders still produced during the weekend. Junior middle blocker Amanda Smith broke her career high with 14 kills against the Great Danes and led the team with 24 kills for the day. Senior setter Lauren Sanderson produced 80 assists in two matches alone along with a notable 16 digs. At the weekend’s conclusion, Stansbury along with junior middle blocker Jaelah Hutchinson were named to the all tournament team. Baker noted that by the St. John’s match, the Raiders were definitely fatigued. He described his team as a work in progress and said, “There are a lot of good things happening, but we need to get back to work.”

The Raiders continue their season with record 5-1 at the Stephen F. Tournament in Nacogdoches, Texas on September 8 and 9. Although the impressive season opening winning streak came to an end for the Raiders this past weekend, hopefully they bounce back and continue their remarkable season. 

Contact Lexi Luthringer at [email protected].