CASTLETON, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton women's volleyball team picked up a pair of hard-earned victories on Saturday, defeating Plattsburgh State and SUNY Delhi at Glenbrook Gym in a tri-match.
The Spartans took a five-set thriller in the first match of the day, winning 25-19, 19-25, 25-17, 23-25, 15-11 against the Cardinals. The Spartans then wrapped up the day with a three-set victory over the Broncos, 25-18, 25-21, 25-19. Castleton hit .118 as a team on the day while holding the opposition to a .050 hitting percentage. The Spartans improved to 6-2 with the victories, marking the best start in program history through eight games of a season.
Hailey Martinovich combined for 30 kills over two matches and has 23 digs on defense.
Jocelyn Ray added 17 kills on the day and
Alondra Rojas stacked up 53 assists.
Victoria Garcia led the team with 38 digs on the day.
VTSU Castleton 3, Plattsburgh State 2
The first match was a five-set grind for the Spartans, outlasting SUNY Plattsburgh in a thrilling matchup 25-29, 19-25, 25-17, 23-25, 15-11. The Spartans stacked up 43 kills as a team with 11 aces and 69 digs defensively. The meeting was just the third all-time between the programs and marked Castleton's first win against Plattsburgh State.
Martinovich had 21 kills and hit .246 in the match, while Ray notched 11 kills of her own. Rojas had 31 assists, four aces and 13 digs—all of which were team-leading marks. Garcia added 11 digs and
Lillirose Prevost had 10 in a double-digit effort off the bench.
Plattsburgh was led by 17 kills from Liya Girma and nine from Darby Collyear. Annabella Almeida and Kyleigh Ganz split setting duties, posting 16 and 15 assists, respectively.
Each set was a back-and-forth affair, with Castleton taking the opening set 25-19 after scoring six of the last nine points of the frame. Neither side had a run longer than four points in the opening frame, but a late three-point burst by Castleton gave the Spartans a needed cushion to hold on for the win.
After Plattsburgh took the second set thanks to a closing 10-1 run, the Spartans rebounded with a third-set win to regain the lead in the match. Castleton inched ahead throughout the match, using small bursts to move ahead 17-10 late in the set. Plattsburgh closed the gap to 21-17, but the Spartans put an end to the set with a 4-0 run to close, capped by an ace from Garcia.
A tight fourth set favored the Cardinals 25-23, but Castleton responded by moving ahead 4-0 in the deciding fifth set. The lead shrunk to just a point at 6-5 before the Cardinals tied it 7-7, but the Spartans rattled off four straight points to move ahead 11-7. After pushing the score to 14-9 and match point, Plattsburgh pushed on with two points to make it 14-11. That was as close as it got, as the Spartans sealed the victory on the next point thanks to a Plattsburgh service error.
VTSU Castleton 3, SUNY Delhi 0
The Spartans also earned their first-ever win over Delhi on Saturday, meeting the Broncos for just the second time ever and first time since 2021.
Martinovich had nine kills and 15 digs, while
Vanessa LeBrun and Ray had six kills each. Garcia racked up 27 digs in the victory and Rojas had four aces, five kills and 22 assists.
Madison Sheehan played a role in four total blocks—one solo and three assists.
Delhi raced out to a 4-0 lead in the opening set, but a 9-0 run by the Spartans put Castleton ahead 11-6. That was the longest run of the frame, but a pair of three-point runs helped seal the opening set. The latter burst came at the tail end, as a trio of Bronco errors finished the frame with Castleton winning 25-18.
The second set was equally challenging, as Castleton never strung together more than three points in a row but managed to take a 25-21 victory. The final frame was decisive for the Spartans, opening up with a 10-2 lead after a 6-0 run that featured four kills and an ace for Castleton. Delhi buckled down from there, but the lead for Castleton proved insurmountable as it never relinquished the lead on the way to completing the sweep.
VTSU Castleton is back in action on Wednesday night at Colby-Sawyer at 6 p.m.
