BOX SCORE

HAMILTON, N.Y. (11/12/10) – Junior Maureen Colligan (Odessa, Fla.) lifted the Colgate women's volleyball team to a huge 3-1 (25-16, 26-24, 23-25, 25-20) win over Army with 19 kills on Friday night at Cotterell Court.

Colgate (16-11, 9-4 PL) clinched the third spot in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament with the win and moved five games over .500 for the first time this season. Senior captain Casey Ritt (Colorado Springs, Colo.) posted 10 kills, while rookie Kaylee Fifer (Lantana, Texas) added 28 assists. Rookie Lexi Finger (Homer Glenn, Ill.) and senior captain Devon Applegate (Davidson, N.C.) each reached double digits in digs with 13 apiece. The Raiders have now won five-straight conference matches.

Army (17-13, 10-3 PL) had 31 attack errors on 169 attempts and 48 kills. Amanda Rowell posted a team-high 14 kills, while Karyn Powell added 37 assists. Birttany Jensen recorded 18 digs.

"I was pleased with how my team played tonight,” said head coach Ryan Baker. “Our defense stepped up which is necessary against a good Army team. Maureen put up some big numbers. We still have more to improve on if we want to compete next weekend."

Colgate came to play and in the first 15 points in showed. The Raiders jumped out to a 10-5 lead on a pair of kills from junior Kaylee Doughert (Landisville, Pa.) and one from rookie Lindsay Young (Tampa, Fla.). Colgate never allowed the Black Knights back into the set as the closest they got was three points. A kill from Megan Wilton of the Black Knights narrowed the lead to 17-14, but an 8-2 run down the stretch put Colgate up 1-0 with a 25-16 win.

The Black Knights came right back in the second set and opened up a 12-8 lead early on. Rowell and Colligan were matching kill-for-kill as each had three in the first 20 points of the set. The Raiders aided Army with three attack errors to give them the lead. Colgate chipped away and tied the score at 14-14 on three consecutive kills by Colligan. Senior captain Logan Keala (Kaneohe, Hawaii) gave the Raiders their first lead at 15-14 on a service ace. The Black Knights came back on Colgate later on in the set and took a 20-18 advantage. The Raiders evened it up two points later after a service error by Army and a Ritt ace. The teams then traded points, until a Colligan kill and an attack error by Rowell gave Colgate a 26-24 win and a two-set advantage.

After Army got one game back to make it 2-1, Colgate pounced on the Black Knights in the fourth game and jumped out to 10-2 advantage. The Raiders got help from four consecutive attack errors by Army. The lead shrunk to six at 12-6, but Colgate kept its foot on the gas pedal and ended a three-game losing streak to Army with a 3-1 win after a 25-20 win.

Colgate will be playing its final regular season home game tomorrow afternoon as the Raiders will honor their three seniors who are playing in their final home contest at 3 p.m. against Holy Cross.

NOTES: Colligan set a career-high with 19 kills … it was the second time a Colgate player put 19 kills on the board as Ritt did it against Navy on Sept. 24 … Colligan has reached 10 or more kills 17 times … Finger has had double-digit digs in the last two games … Colgate forced at least 30 errors for the seventh time this season … head coach Ryan Baker will be looking for career win No. 100 tomorrow afternoon as tonight's win was his 99th as a collegiate head coach … he has 77 of those wins on the Colgate sidelines.