VOLLEYBALL GAME CENTRAL

HAMILTON, N.Y. (11/10/11) - The Colgate Women's Volleyball team will be on the road this weekend to take on Patriot League opponents Army and Holy Cross in the final two matches of the regular season.

The Raiders beat Lafayette 3-0 before falling to Lehigh 2-3. The win over Lafayette clinched the Raiders a spot in the Patriot League tournament, making them one of four teams that will compete for a chance at the championship title. Friday night's match at Army is set for 7 p.m., then the Raiders head to Holy Cross for a 3 p.m. start. All links for the Army match are available at the Volleyball Game Central page. There will be live video for the Saturday match at Holy Cross.

DYNAMIC PLAY
Despite their loss to Lehigh, the team had a stellar weekend of play. Maureen Colligan, Kaylee Dougherty and Lindsay Young were strong offensive forces for the Raiders, as Colligan and Dougherty had 17 kills each on the weekend, and Young collected 20. Young was awarded with weekly honorable mention honors from the Patriot League for her performance, which included an impressive .357 hitting percentage. Young had only five total errors on the weekend, including just one against Lafayette. Also contributing offensively was Caitlin Cremin, who had seven service aces against Lafayette, and nine total for the weekend. Cremin, Lexi Finger, and Kaylee Fifer were also key defensive players, as they tallied 19, 22 and 21 digs, respectively. Fifer also had 45 assists against Lehigh.

BREAKING RECORDS
Fifer has clinched a spot in the record books for assists in a season. She is currently 10th all-time with 909 assists and is three away from Melanie Randall, who recorded 912 in 1998. The Raiders are getting close to entering the top-10 in singles season assists as a team. They sit at 1,100 helpers and are 76 away from jumping into the list.

JOINING THE PARTY
Colgate and Lehigh needed just one win last weekend to clinch bids to the Patriot League Tournament. It didn't take long, as both clubs won Friday night to fill out the four-team field. American and Army are the other two teams in the tournament, and both had clinched already the weekend before. Colgate has qualified for the League Tournament five years in a row, while Lehigh is in for the second time in three years.

AMERICAN TO HOST?
American posted a four-set win over Army Saturday at Bender Arena in the nation's capital to sweep the season series with the Black Knights and sew up the always important head-to-head tiebreaker. The Eagles lead Army by one match in the standings with just two regular season contests to go. American needs at least a split of its matches this weekend against Lehigh and Lafayette at home to officially clinch the No. 1 seed in the League Tournament and hosting duties for the 10th time in the last 11 years.

SCOUTING THE BLACK KNIGHTS
Army is currently second in the league, but leads the league in five of the seven statistic categories, including opponent hitting percentage, assists, kills, blocks and digs. The Black Knights are 20-7 overall and 10-2 in the conference. Army is coming off a win against Navy and a 1-3 loss to American, which gave American the first place spot in the league.

Ariana Mankus leads Army offensively with 365 kills. Mankus is also first on the team with 36 service aces, and second on the team in digs with 366, behind D.J. Phee, who has 436 digs. Mankus was awarded a Player of the Week honorable mention for her play against American and Navy.

SERIES HISTORY
The two teams last met in October, with Army winning 3-2. The Black Knights stopped a two-game winning streak for the Raiders with the win after Colgate beat them 3-1 towards the end of the season last year and the Raiders knocked them out of the 2010 Patriot League Tournament. Army holds the advantage with a 31-24 all-time record.

SCOUTING THE CRUSADERS
Holy Cross is fifth in the league with a 4-8 record and 8-21 overall, and just missed making the tournament this year.

Megan Lynch leads Holy Cross offensively, with 372 kills on the year, which ranks third-all time in Holy Cross history. Lynch also holds the first and fourth place spots, with 442 (2010) and 371 (2009) kills respectively. Lynch also leads the team in digs with 272, and service aces with 29. The Crusaders are backed defensively by Elizabeth Watters, who has a career-best 378 digs this season, and she sits seventh all-time in career digs with 902.

SERIES HISTORY
The two teams last met in October, with Colgate winning 3-1. The Raiders have dominated the match-up with a 39-4 all-time record. The Crusaders last beat Colgate back in 2004 when they swept the season series.