HAMILTON, N.Y.  – The Holy Cross volleyball team came out the gates strong, but defending Patriot League champion, Colgate steadied the ship and swept the Crusaders 3-0 Friday evening on Cottrell Court.
The setback sends the Crusaders to 3-22, 1-13 PL while Colgate wins their eighth straight and improves to 21-4, 13-1 PL.
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SET SCORES:
- Red Raiders 3, Crusaders 0 (22-25, 11-25, 9-25)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- A senior Halle Carter ace put the Crusaders in front 9-4 early forcing Colgate into an early timeout. Back-to-back errors doubled up the margin keeping Holy Cross ahead 16-8. The Red Raiders roared back via a 9-3 run to pull within two, 19-17. A bad set coupled with an senior Emma VanSeveren ace put Holy Cross ahead 21-17. The Red Raiders closed the set out for the comeback win.
- Freshman Rachel Johnson gave the Crusaders a 2-1 lead with a service ace. The Red Raiders established a four point lead, 7-3 thanks to a 6-1 scoring binge. Two kills combined with an ace and ball handing error improved the hosts margin to 18-8. Colgate ended up winning the set 25-11.
- Colgate began the third set fast opening up a 5-1 lead. A senior Gracyn Benck kill cut the deficit in half to 6-3. Abby Shadwick and Sophie Thompson blocked the Crusaders attack attempt to add onto their lead 14-6. Holy Cross only could muster three more markers as they fell in three sets
OUTSIDE THE BOX:
- Gracyn Benck had four kills in the contest. The senior has 719 career kills and needs four more kills to pass former teammate Clare Honan (722) for 10th all-time in program history.
- The three leading players in kills for Colgate all hit over .400 in the match.
- As a team, Colgate hit .481 which was their best efficiency of the season.
UP NEXT:
- Holy Cross is back in action Saturday, November 5 against Army West Point with first serve set for 4 p.m.
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