ON TAP THIS WEEK: After three consecutive weekends away from the friendly confines of Cotterell Court, Colgate returns home to open up the Patriot League schedule. The Raiders will host Holy Cross, Friday evening at 7 p.m. and then tangle with Army Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. Friday evening's match is a Rowdy Raider Match. Free $5 Valero Gas Card for students sponsored by Blue Ox Energy, while supplied last. Tricycle Obstacle Races between the second and third sets.
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 49-49 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: The Raiders snapped a six-match winless skid by winning two of three matches at the Cornell Invitational. Colgate won its third-consecutive decision over arch rival Cornell in the opener 25-19, 25-13, 24-26, 25-22 Friday evening. Kaleigh Durket posted a dozen kills in the victory, while Kaylee Dougherty and Maureen Colligan each accounted for 10 kills. Devon Applegate, who served up a personal best three aces, was one dig short of her career-high with 24 and Casey Ritt established a new career-high for blocks with eight.
Colgate was downed by the University of Buffalo 25-19, 25-21, 25-18 in its second match. Durket was the lone Raider with over 10 kills. The freshman hit .423 against UB and had 13 kills. Logan Keala posted nine kills in the loss.
In the finale, Colgate rallied from deficits in game one and game four to outlast St. John's 25-23, 25-18, 15-25, 28-26 to nail down second in the tournament. The victory snapped a five-match losing streak against the Red Storm. Durket posted 13 kills, while Keala and Maureen Colligan had 12 and 11 respectively. For Keala, it tied a career-high. Dougherty hit .421 with nine kills in 19 attacks and added six blocks. Applegate posted her third match of 20 or more digs with 22.
THE SERIES RECORDS: Colgate and Holy Cross have met 38 previous times with the Raiders holding a convincing 34-4 record and have won the last eight meetings versus the Crusaders. Colgate swept both meetings in 2008 with a 25-11, 25-20, 25-20 win in Worcester, Mass., and then a 25-10, 25-18, 25-11 win in Hamilton. In the first match, Katrina Zawojski had 11 kills and Kelsea Loveless had 10 as the Raiders hit .325 on the afternoon. In the second meeting, Casey Ritt hit .500 with 10 kills and the Raiders' defense held the Crusaders to .012 hitting.
Colgate and Army have played 49 times, including three in 2008. This is a Patriot League Tournament semifinal rematch from the previous two seasons. The Black Knights hold a 27-22 advantage, but Colgate won the last meeting 25-13, 25-20, 25-20 to advance to the PL final versus American. Katrina Zawojski led the charge with 18 kills, while Casey Ritt had nine. Kaylee Dougherty's blocking also made a difference with six blocks on the afternoon. Army won the two regular-season match-ups in straight sets.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
Holy Cross is 1-11 on the season. The two teams only have one common opponent in Stony Brook. The Crusaders were edged by the Seawolves 3-2, while Colgate suffered a 3-0 loss to SB. Holy Cross comes to Hamilton riding a six-match losing streak, which includes a most recent 3-1 loss to Brown. The Crusaders downed Bryant 3-1 for the lone win of the year. Megan Lynch (129 kills, 109 digs, 12 blocks), Kathleen Colpoys (87 kills, 13 aces, 22 blocks), Rebecca DeSanti (72 kills) are the top offensive threats. The offense is run via Chelsey O'Donnell (359 assists), while Angela Chisholm (166 digs) leads the team defensively. Callie Black's block total (27 blocks, but 12 block solos) can't be ignored.
Army begins the road trip at Bucknell Friday evening. The Black Knights are on a roll in the early stages with a 12-3 record. Army edged Binghamton 3-2 in the final of the West Point Challenge last week. Among the victories includes a thrilling 3-2 win at #19 Pepperdine in the Pepperdine Asics Classic. That was the first win by a Patriot League team over a ranked opponent in volleyball. The three losses have come to Delaware, Sacred Heart and Seattle. The Black Knights have a balanced offensive attack featuring five players with over 100 kills. Ariana Mankus (188 kills, 18 aces, 134 digs, 15 blocks), Rachel Dunn (117 kills, 116 digs, 14 blocks), Francine Vasquez (114 kills, 14 aces, 113 digs, 37 blocks) are off to solid starts. Rachel Willis and Amanda Rowell each have 48 blocks on the year. Maureen Bannon (529 assists) runs the offense.
INSTANT IMPACT: Kaleigh Durket is trying her best to replace all-time Colgate kill leader Katrina Zawojski. The freshman has either led or tied for the team lead in kills eight of the 10 matches. Durket ranks among the league's top 10 in four statistical categories including being third in kills per set (3.24 kps). Named to all-tournament teams at Harvard and Cornell Invitationals, the product of El Dorado Hills, Calif., hammered down 20 kills, hit .390 and collected 10 digs and three blocks in the five-set loss to Harvard.
ALPHA DIGGER: After sitting behind all-time Colgate and Patriot League digger Jackie Adlam for two years, Devon Applegate is showing she is more than a capable replacement. The junior leads the league with a 4.05 dig per set average. She posted her third match of 20 or more digs with a 22-dig effort versus St. John's. Her all-time high was established against Long Island U with 25.
BLOCK PARTY: Both Casey Ritt and Kaylee Dougherty flexed their muscles at the net at the Cornell Invitational. Ritt posted a career-high eight blocks against Cornell, while Dougherty had six block assists in the win over St. John's. The duo is ranked third and sixth among league blockers. Ritt is averaging 0.86 blocks per set, while Dougherty is posting 0.75 blocks.
LENDING A HELPING HAND: Senior Meghan Fanta enters the weekend in 10th place on the Patriot League all-time assist chart. The senior needs 70 more assists to surpass Megan Carter of Lafayette for ninth. The all-time assist leader in Colgate history has 3,487 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. Patty Watson, Lehigh (95-98) 3,809?
7. Maureen Bannon, Army (06-SA) 3,662
8. Shannon Pitsch, Bucknell (05-08) 3,614?
9. Megan Carter, Lafayette (05-08) 3,556?
10. MEGHAN FANTA, COLGATE (06-SA) 3,487
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.
