BUFFALO, N.Y. – After narrowly falling in a five-set decision to SEC opponent Alabama in the season opener, the Colgate volleyball program rebounded for a five-set victory of their own against Marist in the afternoon. Across the two matches, four Raiders posted a combined seven double-doubles while several surpassed career-best numbers.
Coming off of the team's first win of the season, the Raiders return to action tomorrow morning to face the home team of the Buffalo Tournament in the three-match finale.
HOW IT HAPPENED – ALABAMA
When junior
Alli Lowe launched the ball to the right side line in the opening set, she tied the game at nines against Alabama. Although Colgate went on a three-point rally capped with a
Bridget Kolsky ace, Alabama responded by building a 19-15 advantage. The Raiders continued to fight in the opening set, earning a 3-1 run at Alabama's set point, but eventually fell in the first game by a narrow 25-21 margin.
Colgate continued to gain momentum as it opened with a 3-0 lead over Crimson in the second set. Long rallies peppered the scoring, until a block by sophomore
Julia Kurowski and freshman
Sophie Thompson increased the Raiders' lead to 11-7. Feeling the pressure, Alabama felt forced to call an early timeout with Colgate leading 12-7, and used it to their advantage to climb back to tie the set at 14s. From the reset, the Crimson flew onward to claim the game 25-19.
Facing a must-win set, the Raiders won the opening point for the third straight game. Against the strong opponent, Colgate came out of a timeout with a four-point run to tie at 11-11 behind a solo block by Kurowski. Colgate's blocking game really came alive in the set, including one by sophomore
Hailey Horn-Bostel, a move that pushed the Crimson to call a timeout holding a narrow 20-18 lead. The Raiders were the one to come out of the timeout with determination, and Kolsky capped another 4-1 run with an ace. The move had Alabama opting to use another timeout as the Raiders held a 23-22 lead. A kill by senior
Alex Stein created Colgate's first set point of five after Alabama forced extra point play, before Colgate closed out the 29-27 win in the third set.
The fourth game featured another early Alabama timeout as the Raiders gained a 7-4 advantage, before Colgate ran away with it. Only allowing a single lead change and two tie scores, Colgate forced a fifth set behind a dominant 25-16 win.
After coming back from a two-game deficit, Colgate went point-for-point early in the fifth with Alabama. Despite the Raiders' determined efforts on the court, the Crimson held a narrow 8-6 lead as the team's switched sides before ultimately closing out a 15-9 final for the Alabama victory.
STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
• Colgate had a trio of double-double performances, including
Alex Stein,
Alli Lowe, and
Julia Kurowski.
• Lowe completed the first double-double of the year behind 20 kills and 14 digs. The defensive performance from the junior was a career-best, while her 20 kills were just one shy of her career-best.
• Also posting double-double numbers, Stein earned a career-high of 20 kills, surpassing her previous best of 19 against Stephen F. Austin last season (Sept. 1, 2018).
• While building an additional double-double for the Raiders, sophomore setter
Julia Kurowski was just one assist short of her career-high with 51 assists paired with 11 digs. Kurowski had an all-around performance at the net, also notching a team-high of four total blocks behind one solo and three block assists.
• All four freshmen made appearances for their first career matches, including
Taylor Davis,
Athena Leota,
Cami Carfino, and
Sophie Thompson.
• Topping the team defensively, Thompson notched four total blocks by one solo and three block assists, while Leota earned three kills while hitting a .250 percentage.
• The Raiders had strong play at the back line, earning six service aces compared to Alabama's three. Leading the way at the line was libero
Bridget Kolsky.
• Defensively, Kolsky topped the Raiders with 22 digs, just two shy of her season-best of 24 against Chicago State last year (Aug. 24, 2018).
• Colgate battled through 33 tie scores and 10 lead changes against the SEC opponent, including a match-high of 13 ties and four lead changes in the must-win third set.
HOW IT HAPPENED – MARIST
Colgate's second match of the day had a slow start in which the Red Foxes gained a 4-0 lead. It was an ace by
Alex Stein that tied the game at 11s for the Raiders, before
Taylor Flaherty closed out the 25-20 win with one of her 15 kills on the day.
While in the single digits of the second set, it was a back-and-forth game until Marist challenged a call for the ball. After receiving possession, the Raiders' opponent went on a point run and ultimately evened up the match at 1-1 behind a 25-15 score.
Longer rallies filled the third set, but Colgate built an eventual 10-6 advantage after a
Julia Kurowski kill. Behind big blocks and a trio of Stein aces, the Raiders went on a 10-point run before closing out with a service ace by senior
Hannah Cannon.
After its explosive third set, Colgate faced a fourth set that went point-for-point through the first half, until the Raiders had to call a timeout trailing 17-14. Just as Colgate had done earlier in the day against Alabama, this time it would be Marist who would force a fifth set.
The Raiders were quick out of the gate gaining a 3-1, but it steadily went back-and-forth until Marist held the narrow one-point edge as the teams switched sides. It was in the second half of the set that the Raiders gained their momentum back to build into its 15-9 win, as Flaherty closed out the match point with the kill off the block.
STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
• With 11 total blocks by one solo and 10 block assists, senior
Taylor Flaherty set a new career-high in total blocks. Her previous career-best was seven total blocks against La Salle (Sept. 16, 2017), while she added to her performance by making it a double-double with 15 kills. Flaherty's 15 kills were also just one shy of her career best, marked against Navy on Oct. 28, 2017.
• The third set featured three aces by
Alex Stein, a match in which she ultimately earned four. In addition to her success at the line, Stein notched her second double-double of the day behind 12 kills and 15 digs.
• Behind six total blocks senior
Jessica Lathan tied her career-best, last earned against Liberty on Sept. 8, 2018.
• In addition to topping the team with her 18 kills, junior
Alli Lowe garnered her second double-double of the day by pairing them with 10 digs.
• Sophomore setter
Julia Kurowski rounded out the fourth double-double, including her second of the afternoon with 48 assists and 10 digs as well.
• In the back line, libero
Bridget Kolsky matched her first game of 22 digs with another team-high at the same mark. The junior had three 20-plus dig performances last season.
THE BOTTOM LINE
• Alabama 3, Colgate 2 (25-21, 25-19, 27-29, 16-25, 15-9)
• Colgate 3, Marist 2 (25-20, 15-25, 25-10, 20-25, 15-9)
RECORD UPDATES
• Colgate opens the season with a 1-1 record.
• Alabama improves to a 3-0 start in the 2019 campaign.
• Marist drops to 0-2 on the year.
COACH BAKER'S TAKE
"I really like how we fought all day today. We showed great toughness mentally, emotionally and physically. It was very challenging on the players to fight as hard as they did against Alabama for 2.5 hours and barely lose. Alabama is a hard-hitting team with weapons everywhere, so I feel we have a lot to be proud of. All credit goes to Alabama in how they managed the fifth set. We gave them everything we currently have.
"Marist made us play hard for the entire match with their serve and pass game. Our team showed great depth.
Jessica Lathan made a huge impact on the match. There are a lot of positives to build off from this."
UP NEXT
The Raiders round out the three-match Buffalo Tournament tomorrow, Sept. 1, as they face the home team in Buffalo. First serve is slated for 10 a.m.
FOLLOW THE RAIDERS
For more information on the Colgate volleyball program, follow the Raiders on Twitter @ColgateVB and on Instagram at Colgate_VB.
