The Patriot League defending champs started off their season with a 3-1 league win against Army at Cotterell Court on Friday. First-year outside hitter Kathleen Harris had another great match with 13 kills and 16 digs, earning her Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors for the second time this season.

Sophomore right side Kate Reilly also had a successful game with 11 kills and a 22 percent hitting percentage overall. Senior setter Kaylee Fifer had 42 assists and 12 digs. The Raiders excelled defensively against Army as senior setter Allie Dyer and senior libero Caitlin Cremin each had 19 and 16 digs, respectively, contributing to an overall team total of 88. Junior middle blocker Diane Seely also had an impressive game with five solo blocks.

Army took an early 11-5 lead after the Raiders lost four consecutive points at the start of the first set due to attacking errors. But Colgate fought back with a 10-4 point run, with back-to-back kills from Harris, Reilly and junior middle blocker Kenzie Hume tying the game at 15. The score went back and forth until Colgate went on another 4-1 point run winning the set 25-22 with a kill from senior outside hitter

Lindsay Young.

The Raiders’ momentum carried over as they entered the second set with a 12-7 lead. Hume and Fifer both pushed the Raiders advantage as they each contributed with a pair of kills. Then Seely had two kills, and Cremin had a couple of aces pushing the Raiders’ advantage to 18-8 after a six consecutive point run. The Black Knights attempted to fight back but were never able to cut down Colgate’s lead to less than 10. Reilly had a kill to put the Raiders

ahead 2-0.

Army came back in the third set. The score was tied at 14, but the Black Knights had an impressive 11-4 point run that the Raiders couldn’t recover from as Army took the third set.

Colgate started out strong in the final set with a huge 13-5 lead thanks to pairs of kills from Seely and Harris, and a kill from sophomore setter Jackie Macy. Army fought back cutting the Raiders advantage to 15-9, but Colgate responded by taking a 10 point lead over Army. The Raiders never let up,  and scored six of the final seven points to win the match 3-1 with a final score of 25-13 in the final set. 

On Saturday, Colgate earned its second win of league play in a sweep against Holy Cross. Colgate’s offense flourished with a hitting percentage of 32 percent. Seely had 12 kills and Young had eight. Hume also contributed with seven kills while setters Fifer and Macy each had 19 and 15 assists, respectively. In addition, Cremin had 11 digs on defense. Katie McKernan led the Crusaders in their only game of the weekend, as she had 11 assists, 11 digs and two blocks.

 The score was close early in the first set until the Raiders went on a 5-0 run, putting them ahead with a 12-6 lead. They were able to pull ahead after several kills from four different players, and an ace from first-year defensive specialist Madison McAndrews. The Crusaders earned back three points but Colgate countered with a nine point run, creating a huge lead with the score at 21-9 thanks to four kills from Harris and two from Hume. An ace from Dyer secured the win for the Raiders, finishing the first set 25-13.

Holy Cross came out strong in the second set, taking their first lead at 12-11 after an unforced error from Colgate and a kill from Crusader’s Alex Aycock. They increased their lead to two but Colgate countered with a 3-0 point run. The score stayed close but Seely got a kill and Harris got an ace, putting the Raiders ahead 24-22 in position for set point. Young finished the set for Colgate with a kill and a final score of 25-23.

Colgate’s momentum carried over, as they pulled ahead with an early 8-3 lead in the third set thanks to kills by Fifer and Seely. The Raiders continued to dominate the set, beating the Crusaders with an impressive final score of 25-12. The Raiders earned 15 of the final 21 points in order to earn the 3-0 sweep against Holy Cross.

Colgate continues league play this weekend as they travel to play Lehigh on Friday night and at Navy on Saturday afternoon.    

Contact Jessica Rice at [email protected].