JOHNSON, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton women's volleyball team coasted to a season-opening victory on Saturday morning, taking a 3-0 win over Vermont State University Lyndon in the opening match of the Vermont Volleyball Classic in Johnson.
 
The Spartans amassed 29 aces as a team—fifth most in a three-set match in program history—and had 49 offensive points to Lyndon's four. The first set went to the Spartans 25-4, before VTSU Castleton claimed the second set 25-7 and the final set 25-3.
 
Kaitlyn Chapman led the team with five kills on six attempts, while Jocelyn Ray added four kills. Hailey Martinovich was a perfect 3-for-3 hitting and Alondra Rojas debuted with three kills, seven assists and 11 aces for Castleton. Victoria Garcia led the team with four digs.
 
Kiara Mack had a trio of kills for the Hornets while Emily Anderson led the team with three assists. Four different players logged digs for Lyndon.
 
The Spartans scored the first five points of the opening set behind strong service from Rojas. After a pair of Hornet points, VTSU Castleton rattled off nine straight points to take a 14-2 lead. Leading 18-4, Chapman served the Spartans home the rest of the way, collecting aces on four of the last seven points in the set.
 
Castleton opened the second set with an eight-point run, and used a later 10-point run to move ahead 20-2. Lyndon scored four of the next five points, but Castleton closed out the set confidently, 25-7.
 
The final frame began with a 9-0 Spartan run, and extended to 17-2 after a stretch that saw a handful of errors by Lyndon. Castleton scored the final eight points of the day behind Lillirose Prevost's service, with three straight aces from Prevost followed by kills from Rojas and Nicolette Vaughn to end the match.
 
The Spartans battle Norwich at 11 a.m. Sunday followed by a tilt with VTSU Johnson at 1 p.m.