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HAMILTON – The Colgate women's volleyball team got great performances from Michelle McCarthy and Lindsay Young in a 3-1 (22-25, 25-14, 25-20, 26-24) win over Bucknell on Thursday night.

The Raiders (12-12, 9-1 PL) moved back to the .500 mark for just the second time this season, and its has been a great turnaround after starting the year with tough competition. Colgate is 12-4 in its last 16 matches. Young led the way with 14 kills, while McCarthy had 13 strikes. Kaylee Fifer added 44 assists and Caitlin Cremin was incredible on the backline with 24 digs.

“This was a great team win against a very physical Bucknell team,” said head coach Ryan Baker. “I loved how we kept fighting the entire match.  Our defense was really strong. Liz Karnes and Lindsay Young were huge offensively and we got really good court leadership from Kaylee Fifer.”

The Bison (8-17, 2-8 PL) gave the Raiders all they could handle with Morgan Mientus, Kebah Edoho and Hannah Young tallying eight kills apiece. Meghan Wentzel had 23 assists and Leylin Marroquin added 23 digs.

Colgate got off to a great start in the first set with an early 9-2 advantage with aces from Cremin and Allie Dyer, along with kills by Young and Diane Seely. The lead ballooned all the way up to 15-9 on a strike from Fifer, but Bucknell began to chip away. The Bison got to within two at 17-15 with a 6-2 run capped by a pair of Colgate errors. The Raiders kept the two-point lead until Bucknell grabbed its first lead at 20-19 on a kill by Mientus. Colgate couldn't get the lead back and fell, 25-22, in the opening set.

The momentum for the Bison did not carry into the second set as the Raiders opened up another early lead at 10-3. Four different Colgate players tallied kills, including Mari Faines and Fifer. Bucknell never recovered from the early run by the Raiders and fell behind as much as 15-4. Colgate closed out the set to tie the match with a kill by Fifer to make it 25-14. Seely and Fifer led the way during the set with four kills apiece and Young and Faines added three.

The third set was much more competitive early on as neither team opened up more than a two-point lead in the first 28 points decided. With Colgate ahead 15-13, Seely gave the Raiders their largest lead at 16-13 with a kill. The lead increased to 20-15 with a 4-1 run by Colgate with Karnes adding a kill and one by McCarthy. Bucknell climbed back to within three at 22-19, but three Bison errors gave Colgate a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-20 win in the third game.

The back-and-forth battle moved on into the fourth set as once again, neither team took control after the first 24 points. With the set tied at 12-12, Bucknell made the first move with back-to-back points with a kill by Mientus and a Colgate error to earn a 14-12 lead. The Bison held onto the lead until Colgate scored three-straight points with kills by Seely and McCarthy, along with a Bison error to take a 19-18 lead.

After Bucknell tied the match at 19-19, Colgate went on a short 4-0 run, which was countered by the Bison and the match was tied at 23-23. The teams traded points and then Fifer and Young posted back-to-back strikes and Colgate won the match 3-1 with a tough 26-24 victory in the fourth set.

Colgate is off for the next eight days as the Raiders will welcome Army and Holy Cross for Volleyball Family and Alumnae Weekend.