Volleyball Drop Two League Road Contests

Despite an admirable performance by senior middle blocker Kenzie Hume on Friday against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks, the Raiders were swept in three sets. Hume posted an outstanding .571 hitting percentage, with just one error out of her 14 attempts overall. Her efforts were followed by sophomore right side hitter Katie Stebbins with seven kills and by junior outside hitter Katie Fauntleroy with six. Junior setter Jackie Macy added 21 assists and sophomore defensive specialist Madison McAndrews contributed 12 digs. 

Although the Raiders opened up the first set by taking the first four points, Lehigh countered with a 7-2 point run that gave them a 7-6 advantage. The two teams remained neck and neck until the score was tied, 20-20. Yet a Lehigh kill started a 5-2 point run that gave Lehigh the first set, 25-22. 

In the second set, Colgate took an early lead once again thanks to Macy’s serve. The Raiders pushed that early 5-0 lead to 17-13 before Lehigh fought back and tied the score at 20-20. Once again, the Mountain Hawks took five of the next seven points to secure another 25-22 win, and a 2-0

advantage overall.   

Colgate had a slim 6-5 advantage over the Mountain Hawks in the third set before Lehigh went on a 10-4 point run to take a 20-12 advantage. From there the Mountain Hawks were able to take the 25-14 victory and the sweep. 

Then, the Raiders traveled to Annapolis, MD to take on the Navy Midshipmen. Colgate started out the first set with an early 10-5 lead. Navy countered with a 16-5 point run however, to take a 21-15 lead. Despite a late come back by the Raiders to pull within four, an unforced attacking error by the Raiders on game point gave Navy the 25-21 win. 

Colgate answered in the second set breaking a 16-all tie midway through the set with an 8-2 point run to secure a 25-20 set victory over the Mids. 

The third game was extremely close with 14 ties and seven lead changes. Yet, with the score tied 24-all, a Raider service error and a kill by the Mids gave Navy the narrow 26-24 win. 

Navy’s momentum seemed to carry over into the fourth set as they went on a 5-2 point run from the start. They pushed that advantage to a 16-9 lead. Although the Raiders went on a 4-0 point run, reducing their advantage to three, the Mids countered with three straight points to put the score at 19-13. Despite Colgate’s efforts to fight back, the Mids took a 25-20 victory in the fourth set, winning the match. 

Senior middle blocker Diane Seely led the Raiders with 12 kills, followed by sophomore outside hitter Kathleen Harris with ten. Stebbins added eight kills, and junior outside hitter Brooke Shupyrt-Knoop added seven. Macy posted 24 assists, while first year Molly Smith added 16. McAndrews led with 17 digs as well. 

Colgate’s record dropped to 8-6 in Patriot League play, and to 14-10 overall with the results from this weekend. 

This upcoming weekend, Colgate returns to Cotterell Court to take on American and Loyola. First the Raiders will play American in a match on Friday with a 7 p.m. start time, followed by a 3 p.m. match against Loyola on Saturday.