HAMILTON – The Colgate volleyball team earned a pair of 3-0 sweeps over La Salle and Cornell on the final day of the Colgate Invitational Saturday at Cotterell Court in the Raiders' non-league finales. Juniors Amanda Smith and Jaelah Hutchison both tallied 20 kills and hitting percentages over .425 to lead the Raiders on the day.
 
Senior Lauren Sanderson and junior Katie Stansbury earned spots on the All-Tournament team for their efforts in Colgate's 2-1 weekend. Sanderson registered marks of 120 assists, 24 digs and eight kills in Colgate's three matches. Stansbury notched 36 digs and 10 kills.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED – LA SALLE
The opening set started as a back-and-forth battle until Colgate used a 7-3 run to turn an 8-8 tie into a 15-11 lead and force an Explorer timeout. The Raiders stretched their lead to six following back-to-back kills from Hutchison and Sanderson at 18-12. La Salle wouldn't get closer than four the rest of the way as a kill from first-year Alli Lowe capped off the 25-18 set-one victory for the Raiders.
 
Colgate fell behind 8-5 early on in the second set, but kills from Hutchison and Lowe and a La Salle attack error quickly tied the score at 8-8. Strong blocking and two kills from sophomore Alex Stein helped the Raiders break a 9-9 tie with an 8-2 streak to surge ahead 17-11.  The Raiders stayed in front by at least five points for the remainder of the set as Colgate went on to win 25-19 and take a 2-0 match lead.
 
The third set began in an 8-8 tie before kills from Lowe, Smith and sophomore Taylor Flaherty helped Colgate pull ahead 13-9.  The Raiders held a 17-12 lead, but La Salle rallied with an 11-3 run to pull ahead 23-20. The Explorers held set point at 24-22, but Colgate knotted it up at 24 with a Hutchison kill and La Salle service error. The score was knotted at 26-26 before two La Salle errors secured the 28-26 Colgate victory and 3-0 match win.  
 

RAIDERS WIN!!! Colgate sweeps La Salle following a thrilling set-three win. Hutchison 12 kills, Smith 8, Stein and Lowe with 7. #GoGate pic.twitter.com/ZCFHJuZekh

— Colgate Volleyball (@ColgateVB) September 16, 2017

 
HOW IT HAPPENED - CORNELL
The opening set began in a 12-12 tie before a kill from Sanderson and two spikes from Lowe put Colgate ahead 15-12 and forced a Cornell timeout. The Big Red scored the first point out of the timeout, but Colgate answered with the next three to stretch its lead to 18-13. Cornell clawed back within two at 18-16, but the Raiders followed with five of the next six points to take a 22-18 lead. Cornell couldn't recover as kills from Smith and Stein helped Colgate secure the 25-20 set-one victory.  The Raiders hit a blistering .516 in the opening set.
 
Three-straight service aces helped Cornell to an early 5-2 lead in the second set, but the Raiders stormed back to tie the score at 6-6. The score was knotted eight more times until Colgate used a 3-0 run to turn a 16-15 deficit into an 18-16 advantage thanks to kills from Flaherty and Hutchison. The Big Red answered right back and the score was tied again at every point from 18 to 23. Hutchison came up clutch once again as she smacked back-to-back kills to end the set and give Colgate a 25-23 victory and 2-0 match advantage.
 

Back-to-back kills from Jaelah Hutchison end a back-and-forth second set that saw 17 tie scores and 8 lead changes! Raiders take a 2-0 lead! pic.twitter.com/ZfN7XHOf7R

— Colgate Volleyball (@ColgateVB) September 16, 2017

 
The Raiders carried their momentum into the third set, getting out to a quick 11-3 lead. Cornell wouldn't get closer than six the rest of the way as Colgate continued to roll to a 25-17 victory and 3-0 match sweep. Stein led the way with five kills in the set.  
 
BOTTOM LINES

• Colgate 3, La Salle 0 (25-18, 25-19, 28-26)
• Colgate 3, Cornell 0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-17)

 
WON-LOST RECORDS

• The Raiders improve to 9-3 with the two victories.
• Cornell dropped to 4-5 on the season.
• La Salle fell to 9-6 with the loss to Colgate.

 
KEY RAIDER INFO

• Hutchison led the team against La Salle with 12 kills and a blistering .526 hitting percentage. Smith followed with eight kills and a .412 clip.
• Flaherty stuffed a team-best seven total blocks against La Salle, including two solo stuffs. She finished the day with a team-leading nine total blocks.
• Smith and Lowe tallied a team-best 12 kills apiece in the win over Cornell.
• Stein led the Raiders with 19 digs in the two games combined.

 
FACTS & FIGURES

• Colgate hit .286 as a team against the Explorers, while holding La Salle to a mark of .135.
• The Raiders recorded a team-best 12 total blocks against the Explorers. Colgate finished the day with an 18-8 block advantage.
• The Raiders tallied a .318 hitting percentage against Cornell and held the Big Red to a mark of .180.

FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Ryan Baker

• "What a great way to end our non-conference segment!  This performance looked more like Colgate volleyball.  It was low error with a physical attack and block.  It was a total team effort all day."
• "Overall, I am truly pleased to end 9-3 before going into Patriot League.  The team was exposed to all different types of systems and styles which is key heading into league play.  We've seen hard hitting and aggressiveness, and then this weekend it was low error and scrappy."
• "It's time to get back to work and learn from this weekend as it definitely exposed some areas that need cleaning up before Friday.  The league has had a really strong showing early on so it will be a battle every night.  I'm excited to watch this team compete."

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Stony Brook (3-0): Emily Costello (MVP), Cydney Bowman, Kiani Kerstetter
Colgate (2-1): Lauren Sanderson, Katie Stansbury
Cornell (1-2): Kit McCarty, Kara Rogers
La Salle (0-3): Reilly Lowe, Jensen Sharrits
 
UP NEXT

• Colgate now turns its attention to Patriot League play, which begins next weekend.
• The Raiders will travel to Lehigh Friday at 7 p.m. before heading to Bucknell Saturday at 5 p.m.