NEW LONDON, N.H. – The Vermont State University Castleton women's volleyball team dropped a non-conference tilt at Colby-Sawyer on Wednesday night, falling 3-0 to the Chargers.
 
Though the Spartans (6-3) battled valiantly, Colby-Sawyer won 25-13, 25-20, 25-21 over three sets. The Chargers had 44 kills to Castleton's 21 and had 56 digs to the Spartans' 51.
 
Hailey Martinovich led the team with six kills followed by four apiece from Alondra Rojas and Jocelyn Ray. Rojas also had 13 assists, seven aces and nine digs. Victoria Garcia added 14 digs to lead the team, while Lillirose Prevost chipped in eight and Martinovich contributed seven.
 
Ally Majenski racked up 10 kills for Colby-Sawyer and Brenna Piller added nine for the Chargers to pair with 15 digs. Audra Fontes also had 15 digs for the hosts.
 
The first set was back-and-forth early on, with Castleton trailing just 12-10 midway through. The Chargers scored in bunches from there and closed the set on a 6-0 run to take the opening frame and a 1-0 lead.
 
The second set was tight as well, with Castleton battling back from a deficit to lock the score at 16-16. The Spartans took a 19-18 lead late and pushed it to 20-19 two points later, but the Chargers again rattled off six in a row to end the stanza and take a 2-0 lead.
 
Colby-Sawyer pulled ahead 7-2 early on in the third set, but Castleton persevered to take a lead midway through the set. Trailing 12-7, the Spartans went on a 9-0 run to go ahead 16-12. Colby-Sawyer battled back to 17-16 in favor of Castleton before the Spartans tacked on two more to cushion the lead, 19-16. The home side rallied again, going on a 9-2 run to close the match, including scoring each of the final five points.
 
Castleton is home on Friday night as part of the Homecoming and Family Weekend slate when it brings VTSU Lyndon to town for a non-conference matchup at 6 p.m.