Colgate women’s volleyball held onto a four-game winning streak on Friday night at the Yale Classic with a five-set triumph over the Seton Hall University Pirates

before dropping both Saturday matches in sweeps against Yale University and University of Missouri. The Raiders, only two weekends away from the start of Patriot League play, pushed to a 4-2 overall record at the close of the Yale Classic.

Colgate and Seton Hall have a history of tough competition and their matchup at the Yale Invitational was no exception. The Raiders ended with a five-set win over the Pirates, pulling out the second, third and fifth sets of the match. Senior setter Kaylee Fifer impressed with a remarkable performance on both the defensive and offensive ends, tallying a career-high 63 assists and 16 digs while junior middle Diane Seely tallied 17 kills and first-year outside Kathleen Harris posted 16 of her own. Senior libero Caitlin Cremin led the defense with 24 digs on the match.

The Raiders kicked it off to a sleepy start, allowing the Pirates to take an easy 3-0 lead in the first set. The teams exchanged control of play, tying at five and nine, but Seton Hall broke away to gain a 13-9 lead with in-system offense and four consecutive kills. The Pirates ran with their momentum and closed out the set in a 25-21 score over the Raiders.

Colgate came back in set two determined to take back control, and that they did, pulling out a quick and easy 25-14. The Raiders broke away with a 5-1 run early on to gain the 12-9 advantage after Seely and Harris provided some solid offense at the net. The Pirates chipped away to reach 14-13, but Colgate kept Seton Hall at bay with an impressive run of 10-straight points to gain a 24-13 lead. Juniors Kenzie Hume, Lindsay Young and sophomore Katie Reilly tallied eight kills together in the streak.

Colgate pulled out a solid 25-19 win in the next set after an early 12-9 lead boosted them ahead of Seton Hall. The Raiders offense was in-system and on-point, with kills from Seely, Hume and back-to-back strikes from Harris. The Raiders blew through the Pirates, preventing their opponents from even breaking the 20-point threshold.

Seton Hall came back alive in the fourth set with an 8-1 scoring run early on to grab the 12-5 lead over Colgate. The Raider women struggled to come back from the early deficit and fell on the set, this time on the receiving end of a 25-19 score to push the match into five games.

The final set started out with ping-ponging scores, but Colgate broke away to take a 10-6 lead in the short game after Harris contributed a trio of kills. The women closed out the match in a 3-2 win after steamrolling over Seton Hall in the final rally.

“The difference was our defensive specialists,” Baker said. “Cremin, Dyer and Lexi Finger were a gritty bunch tonight and got better with every point.”

The Raiders lost control in their next two matches of the tournament, going nill-for-six in the next six sets against Yale and Missouri. Harris continued to impress in both matches, posting 11 kills against Yale and nine kills and a 25 percent hitting efficiency against SEC foe Missouri. Cremin posted 14 and 13 digs in the matches against Yale and Missouri, respectively while Fifer assisted 27 and 14. The Raiders struggled to keep up with Missouri’s fast pace on Saturday evening, failing to break the 20-point threshold in any of the three sets, but were able to play more competitively against the Bulldogs.

The Raiders will travel to Brooklyn, New York to take on Fairfield on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m., and Long Island University-Brooklyn and Cornell University on Saturday at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.

Contact Emma Barge at [email protected].