After a big weekend at home over fall break, and a win against Lafayette Thursday, the women’s volleyball team improved to 8-12 overall, and 6-3 in Patriot League play. 

Over break, the Raiders came back from a 2-3 loss to American with a 3-1 win against Loyola and a 3-0 sweep over Bucknell at Cotterell Court.

Then the Raiders took on Patriot League competitor Lafayette Thursday night in Easton, Pa., and won with another 3-0 sweep. 

Colgate won the first two sets by a large margin, securing a 25-16 victory in the first set, and a 25-15 win during the second frame. 

Lafayette seemed to rally early in the third set. With four ties and one lead change early in the frame, the two teams traded points until Colgate increased its lead over the Leopards.

The Raiders held a 14-9 lead when Lafayette took the next three points to lessen Colgate’s lead to two. A kill from sophomore outside hitter Kathleen Harris started a 5-0 run for the Raiders and led to a 19-12 advantage. 

From there, Colgate was able to easily push the score to game point and take the game 25-17 with a Lafayette service error.

First-year middle blocker Jaelah Hutchison, first-year outside hitter Katie Stansbury and Harris posted seven kills each. Junior right side and outside hitter Katie Stebbins and first-year middle blocker Amanda Smith both added six, contributing to the Raiders’ overall hitting percentage of .303. 

Senior setter Jackie Macy posted 14 assists and 11 digs, while Harris and junior defensive specialist Madison McAndrews added 11 and 10 digs respectively. Head Coach Ryan Baker had some insightful comments after the game. 

“I was really pleased with how we played tonight. Our pass and serve game were key factors in the win. It was nice to see Jaelah get going after hitting a little lull. We will enjoy this free weekend with some much deserved rest and recovery,” Baker said.

The Raiders are about to enter their last games of the season and will need to continue to bring this winning mentality to each and every single one of them if they are to make it far in the Patriot League tournament. As the team has had a lot of ups and downs this season, it will be imperative they leave everything they have on the court. Specifically, the Raiders will be facing many teams they have already faced this season: mainly Lehigh and Army. Knowing how each of these teams play will certainly help the Raiders as they prepare for both of these upcoming tilts. 

The team will be back on the road this weekend for a match against Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. on Friday at 7 p.m., followed by a match against Army in West Point, N.Y. Saturday at 4 p.m. Both games will be available to stream online at gocolgateraiders.com.