WASHINGTON, Pa. – Washington & Jefferson College volleyball (6-15, 2-5) dropped a 3-1 match to the visiting Allegheny Gators (8-14, 4-3) in Friday evening Presidents' Athletic Conference play.
Cali Dagen (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) highlighted the evening with a career-high effort in kills with 25, the most in a match since
Fatih Fetsko '26 in 2022. Dagen also led the team in blocks with five and had nine digs.
Brielle Moorhouse (East Liberty, Ohio/Benjamin Logan) and
Isabella Bottiglieri (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin) both finished with 22 assists. Moorhouse had 14 digs followed by the team leader on the night,
Sydney Allen (Washington, Pa./Trinity) with 21 digs.
Allegheny got out of the gates strong, recording a 25-20 set one victory. Kills from Dagen,
Rian Benz (Strongsville, Ohio/Holy Name) and
Stella Stossel (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) separated the Presidents with an early 11-5 lead. The Gators responded but did not retrieve the lead until a W&J service error sparked a run. Allegheny outscored W&J in the remaining points by a differential of 10-2.
W&J bounced back with a 28-26 set two victory to even the set score at 1-1. The Presidents finished the victorious set with 14 kills, eight of which came off the swings of Dagen. After trading small leads, W&J momentarily pulled away with a 20-17 advantage. Allegheny battled back and evened the score at 25-25. A Dagen kill helped the Presidents trade points again, 26-26. W&J closed the door on the set two victory with back-to-back kills from Dagen and Benz.
The Gators claimed set three with their largest margin of victory, 25-19. Allegheny led 13-8 in the early going, only allowing W&J to get within two points. After building the lead to 21-16, the Gators closed out set three outscoring the Presidents 4-3.
Allegheny completed the four-set victory with a down to the wire 26-24 win in the final set. Following a flurry of lead changes, W&J grew a sizable 19-14 advantage sparked by an
Abby Oldham (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell) kill. The six point run after being tied at 14 featured three kills from Dagen and a service ace from Bottiglieri. With the score in W&J's favor at 22-17, Allegheny managed to score nine of the final 11 points to end the match.
The Presidents look to travel to West Virginia on Wednesday (Oct. 28) to face the Bethany Bison. First serve in the Hummel Fieldhouse is set for a 6:00 p.m. start.
