CASTLETON, Vt. - The Vermont State Castleton Spartans fell to the Colby-Sawyer Chargers in a five-set heartbreaker Wednesday evening at Glenbrook Gymnasium. The set scores were 25-23, 24-26, 25-13, 23-25, and 15-12.
The Spartans are now 6-6 with the loss.
The Chargers opened by scoring the first three points of the set. Three straight attack errors by Colby-Sawyer put the Spartans up in the match for the first time at 7-6. The lead was no more than one point in either direction until Castleton answered with a 6-0 surge highlighted by three straight service aces from Alondra Rojas (Thousand Oaks, Calif.).
The Chargers flipped the script by going on an 8-2 run and retook the lead, causing the Spartans to use a timeout. It worked, and the Spartans were able to win the set 25-23, clinching the set after an attack error from Colby-Sawyer.
Colby-Sawyer started out with an early lead like the first set. However, a kill by Sam Ford (Fort Wayne, Ind.) started a 6-1 run which also included a pair of kills from Madison Sheehan (Queensbury, N.Y.) and put Castleton up 9-7.
The Chargers answered right back, going on a 7-1 run of their own to go up 14-10. Colby-Sawyer remained in the lead until a 6-0 run, which was capped off by three straight service aces by Ford, caused the Chargers to take a timeout.
Much like what happened to Castleton in the first set, Colby-Sawyer changed things around after the timeout, rallying to win the set, which was decided again by two points, 26-24.
The Spartans started off very strong in the third set, going on a 7-0 run to start the set which included back-to-back kills from Jocelyn Ray (Essex, Vt.). They did not look back in the set and were up by as many as 20-3. Colby-Sawyer did not go away quietly and went on a 10-3 run before Castleton was able to score two in a row to go up two sets to one.
Neither team held a lead of more than three points in the fourth set. Colby-Sawyer was up 21-18 before a 3-0 run by the Spartans which included a Rojas kill, a service ace by Brianna Walsh (Dallas, Texas), and a Colby-Sawyer attack error put the set at 21-21. However, the Chargers were able to hold on and win the set 25-23, which was the third set decided by two points.
The fifth and final set started to go Colby-Sawyer's way before Castleton fought its way back and held a 12-10 lead. The Chargers called a timeout and were once again able to capitalize by scoring the final five points to take the match.
Nicolette Vaughn (Plainfield, Ill.) led all Spartans with 22 digs while Rojas had a triple double with 29 assists, 11 digs, and 10 service aces. Ray led the way offensively with 13 kills.
Despite coming up in the losing column, Castleton recorded 22 service aces, which was the most for them in a five-set match so far this season.
