Colgate volleyball came back from a loss against Army West Point at home on Friday, with their second Patriot League win against Holy Cross Saturday.

Colgate held a jersey retirement ceremony prior to Saturday’s match, retiring the jersey numbers of three former players: Victoria Chun ’91, MA ’94, Judy Culhane-Faubert ’00 and Autumn McKenzie-Jackson ’97.

Colgate held a 20-14 advantage in the first set against Army, and they pushed the score to 24-21 game point. Yet Army rallied with five consecutive points to take the first set 26-24. 

Army’s momentum carried over into the second set, as the Black Knights took an early 7-2 lead. The Raiders persisted and tied the score at 18. The two teams traded points until the score read 24-all, but a Colgate attacking error and a kill from Army gave the Black Knights the 26-24 win. 

In another close set the Raiders, down by one with the score at 22-21, went on a 4-2 point run to win the third set 25-23 and  force a fourth set. 

With the score tied at 19, Army posted four straight points to take a 23-19 advantage. The Raiders answered with a 3-1 point run to put the score at 24-22, but a kill from the Black Knights gave Army the fourth set and the match. 

Junior right side and outside hitter Katie Stebbins led the Raiders with 14 kills, while junior outside hitter Kathleen Harris added 13. Senior setter Jackie Macy posted 27 assists and 11 digs, while junior defensive specialist Madison McAndrews earned a season high of 22 digs. 

In their second home match of the weekend, the Raiders rallied from a 25-20 loss during the first set against Holy Cross and secured an early 10-2 lead in the second set on their way to a 25-15 win. 

Colgate earned a 21-19 lead over the Crusaders in the third set, before a kill from Harris started a 4-1 point run that secured the 25-20 victory.

The Raiders’ momentum carried over into the fourth set, as they used an early 6-1 point run, and another 8-2 spurt later in order to take a 25-14 win and the match. 

Harris and Stebbins posted 19 and 14 kills respectively, and senior outside and right side hitter Katie Fauntleroy added nine. Sophomore setter Molly Smith posted 33 assists and 10 digs, while McAndrews added 16. 

Sophomore middle blocker Noel Kennebeck posted a career-high of seven total blocks, while first year middle blocker Jaelah Hutchison and Stebbins each added five block assists. 

“Games like Holy Cross are crucial.  They’re competition that sometimes you look down on and you cannot afford to do that, so moving forward we need to take every match and handle it like that,” Fauntleroy said.

Colgate now holds an overall record of 4-10, and a 2-1 record for Patriot League play this season. The Raiders will hopefully be able to keep up their intensity and do well in the Patriot League. This weekend, the Raiders will travel to play Navy at 6:00 p.m. Friday in Annapolis, MD, followed by a match against Lehigh in Bethlehem, PA Saturday at 4:00 p.m.