ON TAP THIS WEEK: Colgate, now 9-10 overall and 6-1 in league action, heads to the road once again in what could be its most important weekend thus far as the Raiders take on Army, Friday afternoon in West Point and then Holy Cross, Saturday in Worcester, Mass. The match-up with Army pits the top two squads in the Patriot League standings with Colgate running a game behind the leading Cadets. The Raiders head into the weekend playing their best of the season – winning three in a row and five of their last six contests.
MEET THE COACH: Ryan Baker is in his fourth season at the helm of the Colgate program. The Utica, N.Y. native has taken the Raiders from the bottom of the Patriot League to the upper echelon in a short period of time. Baker sports a 55-51 record at Colgate after taking over the program for the 2006 season. In his second year, the Ithaca College graduate piloted the Raiders to a 17-13 overall record, the program's first winning season since 1996. Colgate has advanced to the Patriot League Tournament final the last two years – defeating Army in a semifinal match-up both times before falling to American in the finale. After guiding Clarkson to a 22-11 record in 2004, Baker served as an assistant at Colgate for the 2005 season before being elevated.
LAST TIME OUT: Colgate posted a pair of sweeps on the weekend with convincing wins over Lehigh and Lafayette. The Raiders registered a 25-22, 25-9, 25-22 victory over the Mountain Hawks Friday evening as Kaleigh Durket and Kaylee Dougherty combined for 21 kills and hit .319 on the evening. Casey Ritt led the Raiders' blocking efforts with six block assists while Blaire Safir added four blocks. Devon Applegate once again led the defensive efforts with a match-high 17 digs. Colgate held Lehigh to a .050 (29-23-120) hitting efficiency.
Saturday evening, Colgate returned to the court and posted a 25-13, 25-19, 25-11 victory over Lafayette. The Raiders had their best team hitting effort of the season with 42 kills in 83 swings (only seven errors) for a .422 hitting percentage. Logan Keala had one of her most effective hitting nights of her career with a 10-kill performance in 15 attacks (no errors), while Maureen Colligan checked in with nine kills herself. The Raiders registered hitting percentages of 50 percent or better in the first and third games against the Leopards including a .545 performance (13-1-22) in the finale. The Raiders also served up nine service aces with Casey Ritt, Kaleigh Durket and Keala getting two each. Applegate duplicated her numbers from the previous night with 17 digs.
THE SERIES RECORDS: Friday's meeting with Army will be the 51st all time between the two squads as the Black Knights hold a 28-22 advantage over the Raiders including posting a four-set victory over Colgate earlier this season at Cotterell Court. In the previous two years, the Black Knights have swept the season series, but Colgate prevailed in the opening round match-up at the Patriot League Tournament to advance to the finals.
Colgate holds a convincing 35-4 lead in the series with Holy Cross including winning the last nine confrontations. The Raiders came back to squeak out a five-set victory over the Crusaders in the first meeting this season.
LAST MEETINGS:Four players tallied 10 or more kills as Colgate rallied from a one-game deficit in a 20-25, 25-12, 23-25, 25-22, 15-10 victory over Holy Cross. Kaylee Dougherty tallied a team-high 14 kills, while Casey Ritt and Kaleigh Durket each had a dozen in the victory. The Raiders hit .318 in the victory over the Crusaders as the tandem of Dougherty and Casey Ritt hit a combined .535 (26-3-43) against the Holy Cross defense. Devon Applegate was one dig short of 20.
Army had a balanced attack led by Ariana Mankus' match-high 16 kills as the Black Knights prevailed 27-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-22 on September 26. Army fought off a pair of opening set points in the victory. Colgate was led by Logan Keala's 13 kills. The junior was the lone Raider to eclipse double figures. Maureen Colligan and Kaleigh Durket each had nine kills. Devon Applegate had one of her five career matches of 20 or more digs with 21.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:Army heads into the match riding an 11-match win streak. The Black Knights, 19-3 overall and 7-0 in league play, suffered their last loss on September 13, a 3-0 decision to Seattle. Army has a balanced offensive attack and leads the Patriot League in team hitting percentage (.237), opposing hitting percentage (.152), assists per set (12.17), and kills per set (13.33).
Top Players
Ariana Mankus – 289 kills, 27 service aces, 211 digs
Francine Vasquez – 185 kills, 168 digs
Rachel Dunn – 154 kills, 149 digs
Amanda Rowell – 161 kills, 71 blocks
Maureen Bannon – 845 assists
Holy Cross heads into the weekend sporting a 3-19 record, 1-6 in league play. The Crusaders have posted wins in two of their last five matches, including a 3-0 sweep over Navy Friday evening. Holy Cross pushed American to four sets the following day.
Top Players
Megan Lynch – 269 kills, 173 digs
Kathleen Colpoys – 158 kills, 41 blocks
Samantha Surface – 144 kills
Chelsey O'Donnell – 683 assists, 27 service aces
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN: Casey Ritt and Devon Applegate lead the Patriot League in blocks and digs per set respectively. Ritt, who was ranked second heading into play last weekend, posted 10 block assists in six games to take over the top spot with 1.0 blocks per game. The junior has posted 22 blocks in her last five matches. Applegate has led the league in digs per set for several consecutive weeks. The junior extended her advantage by .01 digs per set with 34 digs in six games versus Lehigh and Lafayette. She has posted 15 or more digs in 11 matches this season.
IN THE RANKINGS: Kaleigh Durket is ranked among the league leaders in three statistical categories – fourth in service aces (0.36), fifth in kills per game (3.17), and seventh in hitting percentage (.272). Casey Ritt is right behind Durket in the rankings in ninth in hitting efficiency (.268), while Meghan Fanta is seventh in digs per set (6.46).
DIFFERENT SPELLINGS, SAME RESULTS: Since the four-set victory over American, Kaylee Dougherty and Kaleigh Durket has been one hot tandem. Durket has hit .350 with 54 kills, 34 digs and 10 block assists in her last five efforts, while Kaylee has 41 kills, a .262 hitting percentage, four block solos and 13 block assists in the same stretch.
BACK-TO-BACK: Kaleigh Durket was named the Patriot League Player of the Week following her efforts versus Syracuse and Bucknell. In her two matches, the freshman accounted for 27 kills (3.86 kps), a .290 hitting percentage, 15 digs, three blocks and one service ace. Durket posted a team-best 11 kills and a .364 hitting percentage against the Orange and then 16 kills and 12 digs against Bucknell. It marked the second consecutive week she received weekly honors. Durket was tabbed as the Rookie of the Week on October 12.
LENDING A HELPING HAND: Meghan Fanta remains in eighth on the all-time Patriot League assist list. With her 72 assists in two matches versus Navy and American three weekends ago, the senior passed Bucknell's Shannon Pitsch and Lafayette's Megan Carter. Including her 37 assists versus Lehigh and Lafayette last weekend, she is 102 assists behind former Lehigh setter Patty Watson. The all-time assist leader in Colgate history has 3,707 on her career. During her career she has established the single season school assist record (1,191 in 2006), the second highest assist total (1,149 in 2007), and the 10th best (902 in 2008).
All-Time PL Top 10
1. Beth Bellinger, Army (98-01) 4,380
2. Sue Snyder, Lehigh (92-95) 4,190
3. Abby Casciato, Army (02-05) 4,091
4. Christina Nash, American (05-08) 3,949
5. Elita Powell, Army (90-93) 3,931
6. Maureen Bannon, Army (06-SA) 3,881
7. Patty Watson, Lehigh (95-98) 3,809
8. Meghan Fanta, Colgate (2006-SA) 3,707
9. Shannon Pitsch, Bucknell (05-08) 3,614
10. Megan Carter, Lafayette (05-08) 3,556
PICKED SECOND IN THE PL: After advancing to back to back league tournament finales, Colgate was selected to finish second in the Patriot League Preseason Poll as determined by the league head coaches and volleyball media relation contacts at member institutions. American copped 12 of 16 first place votes and was the consensus choice to win its ninth consecutive league title. The Raiders collected three first place votes and 79 points to edge Army by one point in the voting.
