BOX SCORE

LEWISBURG, Pa. (10/8/10) – The Colgate women's volleyball team erased a 2-0 deficit, but Bucknell won the final set to give the Raiders a 3-2 (25-17, 29-27, 23-25, 18-25, 10-15) loss on Friday night.

Colgate (10-9, 3-2 PL) fell in a five-set match for only the second time this season, prior to the loss the Raiders were 6-1 in those matches. They had an even attack led by junior Maureen Colligan (Odessa, Fla.) with 12 kills, while senior captain Casey Ritt had 10 kills and 10 blocks. Senior captain Logan Keala (Kaneohe, Hawaii) had 11 kills and 14 digs for the Raiders, while fellow captain Devon Applegate (Davidson, N.C.) posted 20-plus digs in another match with 28 on the night.

Bucknell (6-11, 4-1 PL) got 22 kills from Heidi Kamp and 15 from Kyleigh McAhren, while Katie Baumgarten added 13 of her own. Rachel Rodriguez recorded 43 assists and added 15 digs and Leylin Marroquin had 22 digs for the winners.

In the opening set, the Bison ran away with the win right from the start and earned a 25-17 win to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Bucknell jumped out an 11-5 lead and Colgate was able to cut it down to 11-8 with kills from Ritt and rookie Lindsay Young (Tampa, Fla.). Three points, however, was as close as the Raiders got. The Bison then outscored Colgate 14-9, including a run of four late in the set to close it out.

Bucknell once again jumped out on top in the second set with three straight points to open the game, but Colgate fought back with three consecutive points of its own and took a 4-3 lead on a kill from rookie Kaylee Fifer (Lantana, Texas). Neither team got more than a three-point lead the rest of the match. The three-point lead came at 20-17 for the Raiders. The Bison came all the way back to tie it at 20-20, though. It was back-and-forth again late in the match and with the score tied at 27-27, Bucknell got the win with a kill from McAhren and a block from Ragin Jackson to win the set, 29-27, and take a 2-0 lead in the set.

Colgate fought back in the third set to cut the lead to 2-1 with a 25-23 win. It took another comeback from an early Bucknell lead. The Bison started with a 4-1 lead and held the three-point lead until the Raiders tied the set at 16-16. The tied happened thanks to kills from Colligan and Keala, while also getting a block from Colligan. They took the lead at 17-16 on an assisted block from RItt and Colligan and got their largest lead at 18-16 on a kill by sophomore Michelle McCarthy (Manhattan Beach, Calif.). Colgate took its largest lead at 23-19 a pair of blocks and a kill from Ritt. The Bison then cut the deficit to 24-23, but an attack error from Bucknell gave them the 25-23 win.

In the fourth set, Colgate took the early lead for the first time in the match and got a 3-1 lead on a kill from Colligan. Bucknell charged back to tie it at 3-3, but that was the closest the Bison got the entire match. The Raiders opened it up with a 7-1 run on three kills from Ritt to make it 10-4. The Bison kept fighting back, but the Raiders countered and held off Bucknell to send the match to a final set with a 25-18 win.

In the final game, the teams traded points, until Bucknell took a 7-5 on a pair of kills and a Colgate attack error. The Raiders fired back with a block from junior Blaire Safir (Oakland, Calif.) and a kill from Keala. The Bison then took a timeout and came back out to take a 10-8 lead one kills by Jackson and Heidi Kamp. Then Bucknell reeled off three out of four points to build a 13-9 lead.

The Raiders will continue their road swing in October with a visit to Holy Cross and Army next weekend.