CASTLETON, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton women's volleyball team dropped a pair of matches at home on Saturday, falling to UMass Dartmouth in the Little East Conference tilt and Rivier in a non-conference battle.
The Spartans (6-11, 0-5 LEC) lost 25-16, 25-16, 25-18 to the red-hot Corsairs (16-6, 6-0 LEC), who upped their winning streak to nine matches with a pair of victories on Saturday. VTSU Castleton battled tightly with Rivier, falling 25-20, 25-17, 25-20 to the Raiders (12-7).
Hailey Martinovich racked up 12 kills on the day to lead the Castleton attack.
Caitlin Mahoney and
Jocelyn Ray added six each while
Kate Chapman had five.
Madison Sheehan had four kills and played a part in five total blocks—one solo and four assisted.
Sophia Call led the team with 24 total digs, followed by Martinovich's 23 and
Isabella Luna's 17. Luna also had five aces to lead Castleton.
Maddie Delsignore had 278 assists on the afternoon.
Castleton battled tightly with UMass Dartmouth for the first portion of each set, but the third set the Spartans buckled down and gave the Corsairs a run for their money. A six-point run early in the frame behind a trio of aces from Luna gave Castleton a 7-4 lead. Castleton then used a four-point run to go ahead 12-8. UMD responded with three points of its own to pull within one, but the Spartans maintained distance by pushing its lead to 15-12. The Corsairs bounced back from there to regain a 16-15 lead, but Castleton hung tough and battled to a tied score at 17-17. The Corsairs posted five unanswered points from there, however, taking a 22-17 lead before closing out the set 25-18.
The match with Rivier was back-and-forth in its entirety. Castleton led early in the opening frame but the Raiders went on a 6-1 run to go on top 8-4 and kept Castleton at bay from there. The Spartans pulled within two points, 11-9, after a four-point spurt that featured two kills by Chapman and one by Sheehan. Rivier did not let Castleton get on another lengthy run the remainder of the set, keeping the Spartans to two points at a time or less to take the opener 25-20.
An early 8-2 lead in the second set put Rivier in a strong position, but VTSU Castleton closed the gap with a 6-1 run to make it 9-8. A three-point run later in the frame leveled the score at 12-12 and Castleton hung around late in the frame, trailing by just a point at 16-15. A 7-1 run to close the set by the Raiders gave the visitors a 25-17 victory in the middle stanza.
The Raiders built a big lead in the third set, but once again Castleton stormed back to challenge. Trailing 15-8, the Spartans closed the gap to 16-12 thanks to a 4-1 run. Castleton continued to chip away, but Rivier answered every time to maintain its lead en route to a 25-20 third-set victory.
VTSU Castleton is back in action on Monday evening at 6 p.m. when it hosts Eastern Connecticut at 6 p.m. in Glenbrook Gym. The contest is the Spartans' annual Dig Pink Contest, with proceeds benefitting the Sideout Foundation. To support the Spartans' fundraising initiative, click here.
