After a tough weekend on the road last week, the Raiders ended their 12-game away streak with two wins at home against Navy and Lehigh this weekend. With these two victories, Colgate improved its league record to 2-2 and its overall season record to 8-6. Additionally, the Raiders

currently hold a 3-0 record at home. 

In the first set, the Raiders were tied with the Navy Mids at 17. Then Colgate went on a 7-2 point run to close out the set with a final score of 25-19. In the second set, the two teams were tied once again with the score at 15. Yet, the Mids took the lead with a 7-1 point run to secure a 25-20 win, and to tie

the match.

Colgate took back the momentum in the third set, starting off with an early 7-2 advantage over Navy. They held their advantage throughout the entire set as they worked towards a 25-16 victory. The Raiders’ offense was a huge contributing factor to their success in the third set, as the team posted a .375 hitting percentage and only had two hitting errors out of 32 attempts taken. 

Despite the overwhelming win in the last set, Navy established an early lead in the fourth. Although the Raiders rallied and got back in the game, the Mids were able to defeat the

Raiders 25-22. 

In the fifth and final set, Navy held its momentum starting off with an early 6-1 lead. The Mids continued to push their advantage until the score was 10-4. Yet the Raiders answered with four consecutive points and an 8-2 point run to put the score at 12-12. The two teams traded points until the score was tied 14. But then first-year setter Molly Smith earned a

service ace, followed by a kill from junior outside hitter Katie Fauntleroy to get the 16-14 win and the match. 

The Raiders were led in hitting by sophomore outside hitter Kathleen Harris with 17 kills, followed by senior middle blocker Diane Seely with 14. The Raiders posted 57 total kills over the course of the match. Junior outside hitter Brooke Shupryt-Knoop and junior right side Kate Reilly each added six kills to the overall total. First-year defensive specialist Elena Simpson led with 27 digs, and junior setter Jackie Macy posted 34 assists. Seely also led with nine total blocks for the match as well. 

“We really needed that win as everyone here knows, we had a really rough weekend last week, we didn’t play very well, so it says a lot about our resiliency,” Head Coach Ryan Baker said of the victory. “I thought our week of practice leading up to tonight was awesome, so I had high expectations, and the team delivered. I’m really proud of them.” 

The Raiders followed up their performance by defeating the Lehigh Mountain Hawks in five sets. In the first set, Lehigh held a narrow advantage over Colgate with the score at 17-15. But, the Mountain Hawks earned three consecutive points to start a 8-1 point run which would help them secure the 25-16 win. 

Once again, in the second set, Lehigh held a small lead at 17-15. From there, they went on a 4-0 point run and pushed to a 25-20 victory and a 2-0 lead over

the Raiders. 

Colgate answered in the third set, which had 11 ties and four lead changes overall. Although the Raiders were behind 19-18, an unforced error from Lehigh tied the set. The Raiders earned seven of the next 10 points to take the set 25-22 and to get back into the match. 

Lehigh took an early 5-2 lead in the fourth set, but Colgate answered with a 13-5 point run to take a 15-10 lead over the Mountain Hawks. The Raiders pushed their advantage to as many as eight before taking a 25-18 win to force a fifth set to decide

the match. 

In the fifth set, the score was tied 6-6 early on. Then Lehigh had a service error, which started a 7-1 point run for Colgate. The run put the score at 14-7, match point, but Lehigh came back with three consecutive points to bring the score to 14-10. Despite their efforts, the Mountain Hawks had another hitting error, which gave Colgate the 15-10 victory and

the match.  

Seely led the Raiders with 12 kills, while Harris and senior middle blocker Kenzie Hume posted 11 and 10 kills respectively. Macy led with 29 assists followed by Smith with 17. Both setters

posted doubles-doubles as well, as Macy added 13 digs while Smith added 10. Harris and Simpson both led on defense recording 16 digs each, and Hume led with six total blocks. 

“This weekend was so important. I think right now we’re more stable mentally, and we’re going to take it from here and just keep going,” Macy said of the importance of the team’s performance

over the weekend.

This weekend, the Raiders will travel to play at American on Saturday, October 11, at 2:00 p.m., followed by a match at Loyola on Sunday, October 12, at 2:00 p.m.. Colgate will finish the road trip with a match at

Bucknell on Monday October 13 at 4:00 p.m.