HAMILTON, N.Y. – Loyola University Maryland volleyball pushed host Colgate to a fifth set, but the Raiders rallied for a Patriot League victory on Saturday night on Cotterell Court.
Colgate entered the match in first place in the Patriot League standings, but the Greyhounds did not back down in the teams' second meeting in eight days. Just over a week earlier, the Raiders topped Loyola in four in Baltimore. Saturday, they won the match 26-24, 16-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-13.
On Saturday, Loyola took a 24-22 lead in the opening set when
Mariah Sanabia and
Morgan Crawford combined for a block, but the Raiders scored four-straight to win the opening frame.
Loyola came back to hit .258 in the second while holding Colgate to a .024 hitting percentage and pulled away for a 25-16 set win.
Colgate took a 23-22 lead in the third with a Carlie Rzeszotarski kills, but
Lauren Link sided out with a Greyhounds kill, and Sanabia put away a solo block to force a Raiders' timeout with Loyola up, 24-23.
Sanabia and Crawford again combined for a block, this time on Rzeszotarski to seal the set for Loyola and put the Greyhounds within a set of the win. Sanabia finished with five blocks, two solo, to go with her seven kills.
Colgate held a slim 17-16 advantage in the fourth before reeling off the last eight points to force the fifth set.
The Raiders led by a pair, 6-4, after a Milan Bayless kill in the fifth, but Loyola scored three in a row with kills from Sanabia and
Ava Nepkin giving the Greyhounds a 7-6 lead.
Colgate scored the next three points to go up, 9-7, but Loyola got back within a point at 9-8 and 10-9. The Raiders scored the next two and led 12-9 on a Libby Overmyer kill, but kills from
Caitlin Churney and
Lauren Link got the Greyhounds back within one, 12-11.
They could draw no closer, however, and Colgate finished the victory.
Kacy Sekunda had her seventh triple-double of the season with 12 kills, 20 assists and 19 digs in the match.
Churney and Sanabia combined to hit .356 in the match with 21 total kills from the middle.
Churney registered a career-high 14 kills, eclipsing the 12 she's had on two previous occasions. She added three service aces on Saturday, and she has 11 or more kills in three of the Greyhounds' last four matches.
Lauren Link added 14 kills, and
Bryanne Soares had 22 assists for the Greyhounds.
Ally Bauer had a career-best 20 digs in the match, eight more than her previous high from the 2022 season.
Loyola will be back in Reitz Arena next weekend for a pair of matches, starting with a 7 p.m. match against Army West Point on Friday, October 25.
