WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson volleyball team returned to Salvitti Gymnasium after two and a half weeks on the road to host Chatham University for a Presidents' Athletic Conference match. The Presidents fell by a 3-1 score to the Cougars.
Chatham 3, W&J 1 (22-25, 23-25, 25-18, 12-25)
The first set was back and forth lead before Chatham tallied four consecutive points to build a five-point lead over the Presidents at 20-15. Consecutive kills by
Lizzie Carmichael (Wyoming, Ohio/Wyoming),
Ashley Kovel (Everett, Pa./Everett) and
Gianna Platt (Pittsburgh, Pa./OLSH) brought W&J within just one point at 21-20. However, the Cougars tallied four of the next six points to close out a 25-22 set one victory.
W&J raced out to an early 7-2 lead in the second set when
Kaitlyn DeLauter (Marysville, Ohio/North Union) tallied a kill. However, Chatham was able to quickly chip away at the deficit. The Cougars were able to record seven of the next eight points to surge into the lead at 9-8. A little later, DeLauter pushed W&J back in front with kills by
Jaden Blough (Meyersdale, Pa./Meyersdale) and DeLauter to take a 19-16 edge. W&J seemed poised to take the set as Carmichael notched a kill to take a 22-20 lead. However, the Presidents were unable to put away Chatham. The Cougars tallied five of the final set points to steal the set from the Presidents by a 25-22 score.
The Presidents used some strong early hitting, including a pair of kills by Blough, to take an 8-2 edge in the third set. W&J maintained at least a six-point edge for a portion of the set until Chatham registered five straight points to trim the deficit to 15-13. W&J quickly answered with five-straight points of its own to strengthen its edge to 20-13. Back-to-back kills by
Alexis Tomassini (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) and Platt clinched a 25-18 set win.
The Cougars came out fighting in the fourth set to take a 13-7 lead, which forced W&J to take a timeout. DeLauter immediately recorded a kill before Chatham used another consecutive five points to take a 19-8 advantage and effectively put the set and match out of reach.
Blough was the lone President to register double-digit kills with 10. Carmichael and DeLauter each recorded nine kills for W&J.
The Presidents were strong defensively as W&J had three players record double-digit digs.
Sophia Sacriponte (Butler, Pa./Butler) led the way with 24 digs.
Ashley Bertling (Berkley, Mich./Berkley) added a career-high 16 digs.
Lanie French (Beaver,Pa./ Beaver Area) made an impact for the Presidents off the bench, as she registered 10 digs. Kovel led all players in the match with four blocks.
W&J return to action at Salvitti Gymnasium on Thursday, Oct. 14 to host Westminster College. The match is scheduled for a 7 PM start time.
