WASHINGTON D.C.—The Colgate University volleyball dropped its first Patriot League match of the season, falling to six-time champion American, 3-0, at Bender Arena. The Eagles edged the Raiders 30-27, 30-27, 30-23 to remain unbeaten in the conference.

 

Colgate falls to 8-9 overall and to 3-1 in Patriot League action, while American improves to 12-6 overall and a perfect 4-0 in conference play.  The Raiders are now in a tie for second place with Army, who defeated Lafayette 3-0 this evening.

 

Senior Erin Kanetzke (Cincinnati, Ohio) had a strong all-around match, finishing with a team-high nine kills and four total blocks, including three solo stops. Sophomore Kelsea Loveless (Lubbock, Texas) matched the nine kills and picked up a team-best 10 digs. Junior Katrina Zawojski (Palo Alto, Calif.) added eight kills, while freshman Casey Ritt (Colorado Springs, Colo.) had six kills and four solo blocks and five total. Sophomore Meghan Fanta (Hillsboro, Wis.) provided 29 assists in the match and added five digs.

 

American was paced on offense by Ruben Sukaj’s 18 kills and four service aces. Chelsa Brooks added 12 kills and a .625 hitting percentage. Claire Recht added nine kills and a match-high .667 hitting percentage. Tara Stradling made the offense go with 31 assists. Ivana Cebakova and Sukaj both picked up six digs, while Brooks also played a strong defensive match with six total blocks.

 

The Eagles jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the opening game before the Raiders battled their way back to within one point. Trailing 27-22 in the contest, Colgate outscored American 4-0 to make it a one-point game, 27-26. American got a kill from Recht and scored three of the next four points to win the game.

 

The second game was a tight affair as the two squads were tied 10 times and traded the lead five times. The Eagles broke open a 16-16 game with a 9-4 run for their largest lead of the game at 25-20. Colgate responded by cutting the American lead to two at 27-25. The home squad got two straight points to make it a 29-25 game and held off the Raiders to win 30-27.

 

The final contest of the evening played out similarly to the second with both teams staying close to each other. With the Raiders leading 18-17, the Eagles started to pull away and closed out the match with a 13-5 run to clinch the match.

 

American finished the match with 53 kills and a .302 hitting percentage, while Colgate posted 38 kills and a .179 hitting percentage.

 

Colgate continues its conference weekend tomorrow, Oct. 6 at Navy. The game is set for 4 p.m.