EASTON, Pa. – The Colgate volleyball program earned its fourth consecutive sweep in league play as the Raiders downed Lafayette in straight sets on Saturday afternoon. With the win, Colgate sits solely in third in the Patriot League standings with just four games remaining in the regular season.
HOW IT HAPPENED – 3-0 WIN OVER LAFAYETTE
The Raiders handedly opened with a set win in the first after leading outright and completing a four-point scoring run to close out the game. It was freshman
Hailey Horn-Bostel who stepped up with a pair of back-to-back kills to close out the 25-15 victory to propel the Raiders into the second with a lead.
The second set continued to carry the Colgate momentum as the pair of conference foes only saw a single lead change before the second straight 25-15 final. Midway through a third game that had two single tie scores early on, senior
Amanda Smith's 10th kill increased Colgate's lead to 15-10, before the streak of 25-15 set wins sealed the sweep of Lafayette.
STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
• Senior
Amanda Smith matched her double-digit kill performance for the second consecutive game, having successfully swung for a team-high of 10 on the night. It marks the Dallas, Texas native's sixth double-digit kill performance of the year.
• Defensively,
Katie Stansbury marked a team-high of 17 digs and totaled 37 on the weekend, having posted double-digit digs for the third consecutive match.
• Stein nearly snagged her second consecutive double-double, but was one kill shy by nine kills and a team-leading 17 digs.
• Of the Raiders 8.0 total team blocks, junior
Taylor Flaherty and sophomore
Alli Lowe each tallied a high of four block assists.
• Also of note, freshman
Hailey Horn-Bostel scored a career-high of seven kills against the Leopards, while hitting .500.
• The .323 team attack percentage is the third best on the year, behind a .394 attack against Bucknell (Sept. 29) and .337 against Holy Cross (Oct. 21).
• Colgate only sacrificed two lead changes and four tie scores throughout the three sets, and led outright over the course of the opening game.
• With the win, Colgate is extends its win streak over Lafayette to 24 straight wins, and now hold an all-time record of 51-6 against the Leopards.
THE BOTTOM LINE
• Colgate 3, Lafayette 0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-15)
RECORD UPDATES
• Colgate improves to 13-11 overall, with an 8-4 mark in Patriot League action.
• Lafayette falls to 5-18 on the season, with an 0-12 record in conference play.
COACH BAKER'S TAKE
"We continue to improve which is really exciting, especially at this point of the season."
"Our defensive range and effort was the strongest of the season. We were getting everything off the floor."
"The seniors are doing a great job leading. It is exactly what we need going into these last two important weekends."
UP NEXT
The Raiders return to Cotterell Court next weekend as it hosts Patriot League leaders American on Nov. 2 and Navy on Nov. 3, who sit first and second in the standings, respectively.
FOLLOW THE RAIDERS
For more information on the Colgate volleyball program, follow the Raiders on Twitter @ColgateVB and on Instagram at Colgate_VB.
