Box Score

HAMILTON – Led by Kaylee Fifer and Kathleen Harris, the Colgate women's volleyball team opened its Patriot League season as defending champs with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-15, 18-25, 25-13) win over Army in front a great crowd at Cotterell Court.

Colgate (8-5, 1-0 PL) saw Harris put forth another great effort with a match-high 13 kills and 16 digs. Kate Reilly was consistent at the net with 11 kills and hit 22 percent. Fifer was the floor general and amassed 42 assists and 12 digs. Allie Dyer and Caitlin Cremin were the leaders at the back with 19 and 16 digs, respectively. The defense was exceptional for the Raiders with 88 digs total and seven blocks with five solo blocks by Diane Seely.

"We had a great non-conference run, but it really comes down to matches like this," head coach Ryan Baker. "The team played a little tight at moments, but our seniors did a great job vocally, emotionally and skill-wise tonight and that is what you need at this level."

The Black Knights (5-8, 2-1 PL) started their Patriot League season with a pair of wins last weekend, but Colgate handed them their first conference loss. They were led by a trio of attackers with Megan Wilton tallying 11 kills, while Margaux Jarka and Olivia Faifield tallied 10 apiece. Mary Vaccaro played in her first match of the season for Army and put up 23 assists and 15 digs. D.J. Phee played great on the backend with a match-high 20 digs.

Army put Colgate on its heels right from the start with an early 11-5 lead after a bad stretch for the Raiders with four-straight attack errors. Colgate climbed right back in the match with a 10-4 run to tie the set at 15-15. Harris had a pair kills during the run, as did Kenzie Hume and Reilly. There were a couple of lead changes and then the Raiders clamped down and scored four of the last five points and earned the 25-22 win. Lindsay Young put Colgate up 1-0 with a strike setup by Fifer.

The Raiders carried the momentum into the second set and earned a 12-7 lead thanks to a pair of kills from Hume and Fifer. The lead ballooned to 18-8 after six consecutive points by Colgate with two Seely strikes and a couple of aces by Cremin. The Black Knights tried to cut into the lead, but trading points with the Raiders didn't help as the advantage stayed at 10 for the home team and Reilly gave Colgate a 2-0 lead with another kill.

Army rebounded in the third set after the 10-minute break with a 25-18 win. The match was tied at 14-14 and then the Black Knights went on an 11-4 run to put away the Raiders and cut the match advantage down to 2-1.

Colgate then showed its experience in the fourth set by responding early and Army couldn't recover. The Raiders jumped out to a 13-5 advantage thanks to a pair of kills from Harris and Seely, along with an ace from Jackie Macy. Army got a few points back and cut the lead to 15-9, but Colgate was relentless and got its lead up to 10. The Black Knights struggled during the entire set and the Raiders took advantage by taking six of the final seven points to win the match by a 3-1 score with a 25-13 win in the final set.

Colgate returns to Cotterell Court tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. for a matchup against Holy Cross.