CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University women's volleyball team got back in the win column Saturday evening, winning the second of its two matches as part of a tri-match against UMass. Dartmouth and MCLA.
 
In the day's opener, Castleton fell 3-0 to UMass. Dartmouth in Little East Conference play, 10-25, 17-25, 16-25. The Spartans bounced back with a 3-1 win in the second match of the day against MCLA, winning 17-25, 25-18, 28-26, 25-18. Castleton is now 5-16 on the season and 0-7 in LEC play. UMass. Dartmouth is 11-10 overall and 4-3 in LEC action and MCLA is 9-11 overall. The Spartans celebrated their four seniors prior to the match, as Lena Soehnle, Jessica Trudeau, Madison Hamelink and Bre MacDuff appeared in one of their final home matches as Spartans.
 
Lizzie Goodrich led all Spartans with 21 kills on the day, recording seven in the first match and 14 in the second. Goodrich added a pair of blocks on the day defensively as well. Hailey Martinovich racked up 13 kills in the second match, giving her a total of 17 over the day's two matches, in addition to 15 total digs, three aces and two blocks. Trudeau added 12 kills and four blocks—three solo—over the two matches for the Spartans. Mackenzie Wade had a strong day defensively, compiling 27 digs across the two matches—21 of which came against MCLA. Bre MacDuff totaled 48 assists across the two matches. Jen Halliday added four aces and 14 digs on the day.
 
After dropping the first match to UMass. Dartmouth in straight sets, Castleton also fell in the first set against MCLA, 25-17. The Spartans bounced back to even the match in the second set against the Trailblazers, 25-18. The third set was a back-and-forth affair from the first point, as neither team led by more than three points at any time in the frame. Castleton was serving for set-point, 24-23, after an error by MCLA, but a kill from the Trailblazers leveled the score at 24-24. Castleton got the next point on a kill by Mackenzie Bender before MCLA took a one-point lead, 26-25, on back-to-back points. A kill by Trudeau kept the Spartans alive in the third set, knotting the score at 26-26. Another kill by Trudeau pushed Castleton ahead 27-26 before an ace by Martinovich ended the frame with Castleton on top, 28-26, giving the Spartans a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
The final set against MCLA began the same way the third set ended with both teams trading blows back-and-forth. With the set tied 14-14, Castleton rattled off four straight points behind Martinovich's service to take an 18-14 edge. Castleton continued to slowly build its lead, going ahead 22-16 after a pair of MCLA errors. With Castleton facing match-point leading 24-18, Martinovich notched her final kill of the day, sealing the victory for the Spartans and ending the match with Castleton victorious 3-1.
 
The Spartans return to action Wednesday night at 6 p.m. against Plattsburgh State in Glenbrook Gym.