SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Castleton University women's volleyball team dropped a four-set match in non-conference action on Wednesday night, falling to Union (N.Y.) by a final score of 3-1 at the Viniar Athletic Center.
The Spartans drop to 3-3 on the season with the loss, while Union improves to 3-6 overall. It was the first-ever meeting between the two programs, ending with the Dutchwomen on top 25-18, 15-25, 25-11, 25-21. Union held a 46-35 edge in kills and 40-32 edge in assists, though Castleton racked up 59 digs to Union's 50 in the contest.
Hailey Martinovich led all players in the match with 13 kills while adding 10 digs and an ace.
Lizzie Goodrich added eight kills for Castleton and
Mackenzie Bender had five with four digs.
Jen Halliday compiled 14 digs and three service aces, and
Bre MacDuff had 24 assists with 10 digs.
Julia Webster had eight kills and four aces for Union, while Nikki Newcomer and Keara Page had seven kills apiece. Meredith Blinn had 19 digs to lead all players while Haley Kresch had 34 assists.
Castleton scored the first two points of the opening set on errors by Union, but the Dutchwomen rattled off the next five points to take a 5-2 lead. The lead grew to 17-8 after a 4-0 run later in the set, but Castleton used a 6-2 run to close the gap to 19-14. Union pulled away once more with a 3-0 run, moving out to a 22-14 edge. Castleton again strung together three points in a row late in the set to cut the gap to 23-18, but Union closed out the opening set 25-18 after back-to-back points.
The second set went to Castleton 25-15, though the two sides traded points early in the set. After trailing 4-3 early, the Spartans rattled off back-to-back points to take a 5-4 lead. Union knotted the score at 5-5, and later 6-6, but Castleton used a 3-0 run to take a 9-6 lead that it would not relinquish the remainder of the set. A 5-1 run pushed the lead to 14-9. After going back-and-forth to a 21-15 Spartan lead, Castleton scored the final four points of the set to knot the match at 1-1 through two frames.
Union claimed each of the final two sets, including a 25-11 win in set three and a 25-21 in set four. Castleton made a late charge in the fourth set, pulling within a pair at 23-21, but Union scored the final two points of the match to close out the contest with a 3-1 victory.
The Spartans return home to Glenbrook Gym for a Homecoming and Family Weekend Tri-Match against Southern Maine and Fisher College. The match against USM—the Little East Conference opener—is slated for 10 a.m. The Huskies will then take on Fisher College at noon before Castleton and Fisher close the day at 2 p.m.
