Box Score

HAMILTON – Colgate crept closer to its first Patriot League championship in more than a decade with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Army here Friday night.

A raucous Cotterell Court crowd saw the Raiders improve to 10-1 in conference play, two full games ahead of second-place Army and American with just three games remaining. Colgate hosts last-place Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m., and a victory assures the Raiders of no worse than a tie for their regular season crown since 1999.

Friday's win also assured the Raiders of a berth in the conference tournament.

"I am so proud of our resiliency," Colgate head coach Ryan Baker said. "The momentum swings were incredible. Army plays great defense and we knew that. They challenged us all night, but we continued to battle."

Colgate (13-12) won the first two sets 25-20 and 25-18, before Army (17-8) rallied with wins of 25-22 and 25-14. Colgate took control toward the middle of the fifth and deciding set and held on for a 15-11 win.

Kaylee Fifer keyed the Colgate victory, with an assortment of contributions on both offense and defense. She had a game-high 47 assists to go with 18 digs, seven kills and two blocks.

"Kaylee Fifer set a great match," Baker said. "Her choices were great."

Momentum Swings
Fifer said the momentum swings were expected, and she complimented Army on taking advantage of a Colgate lull after those first two sets. But the junior said the team simply stuck to its scouting report and then executed perfectly in the deciding set.

“It was a pretty high-energy match,” Fifer said. “We go back and forth with Army every single time we play them, so it's a pretty high-intensity match for us. We needed to come out focused and we did. It was really fun.

"Now it's always going to be that championship mentality from here on out."

Colgate led for nearly all of the opening set. Liz Karnes, Mari Faines, Michelle McCarthy and Diane Seely all had kills as the Raiders pushed an 8-4 advantage to 19-11. It was 23-14 before Army rallied to score six of the next seven points. But a Black Knights service error ended the set with Colgate on top, 25-20.

Set 2 was more of the same, with Colgate taking control over the middle portion. Faines and Karnes teamed for a block, Fifer had a diving dig and Faines drove home a kill to spark a 5-0 run that made it 10-6 Raiders. McCarthy's kill pushed Colgate to its largest lead at 19-14, part of another 5-0 spurt that lifted the Raiders to a 22-14 advantage. Colgate eased home from there with a 25-18 decision.

Momentum changed after the break. Army led early and then fell behind 13-11. It was 15-13 Colgate when the Black Knights scored five straight to take the lead for keeps. Fifer helped the Colgate cause with one of her patented left-handed kills, but it wasn't enough as Army held on for a 25-22 victory to stay in the match.

The fourth set was all Black Knights. Army turned a 3-2 advantage into first 9-3 and then 16-5. Junior Ariana Mankus did most of the damage for Army, with 10 of her game-high 30 kills coming in this set. Colgate was never closer than nine points the rest of the way as the Black Knights evened the match with a 25-14 win.

The fifth set was tight early, with ties at 1-1, 2-2, 5-5 and 6-6. That's when Colgate strung together three points in a row for a 9-6 lead sparked by Lindsay Young's kill from a Fifer assist and another Karnes kill. Army pulled within 10-9 but then McCarthy blistered a kill from Fifer. Seely's kill and Fifer's block pushed the Colgate lead to 13-10 and forced an Army timeout.

Still leading 13-11, McCarthy and Young posted consecutive kills to set off a wild celebration on the court.

Young finished with a team-high 16 kills while adding 11 digs. Seely had 13 kills, McCarthy 11 and Karnes 10. Caitlin Cremin had 20 digs for the Raiders, and Allie Dyer had 16. Karnes and Faines led the team with five and four blocks, respectively.

Colgate won or shared Patriot League regular season championships in 1991, 1996 and 1999, with current interim athletics director Vicky Chun the head coach of the 1996 squad. The Raiders made it sweeps in 1996 and 1999 by also capturing the tournament title.