Vassar Brewers Fall Twice at Cabrini Tri-Match

By Steven Merritt

RADNOR, P.A. – The Vassar Women’s Volleyball team headed to the Cabrini Tri-Match on Saturday afternoon and dropped a five set heartbreaker 25-21, 16-25, 15-25, 25-22, 7-15 loss in the first match against Catholic University. The Brewers dropped the second match 18-25, 17-25, 14-25 to the host Cabrini.

Catholic 3 – Vassar 2
The Brewers got out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first set following two service aces from freshman Molly Delahunty. Catholic went on a 6-0 run on their own before a kill from sophomore Hailey Hayes halted the run.

Vassar scored the next ten points after two kills each from sophomore Julia Hale and junior Ava Casalino. The duo also had a block in the 8-0 rally and junior Maya Levine added two service aces to take a 13-6 lead in the set.

Two kills from Delahunty as well as kills from freshman Rebecca Gutierrez and Hayes to give Vassar a 20-13 lead. After the Cardinals cut the lead to 22-20, freshman Melia Voss had a kill to get it to 24-21 and Hale clinched set point on a service ace.

After back to back kills from Delahunty in the second set to make it 9-11, the Cardinals went on a 13-2 run to get to 11-24. Vassar scored five straight points on set point after a kill from Hayes and a solo block on Hale. A kill from Brittany Connatser evened the match up at one.

The third set started back and forth but the Cardinals took an 8-11 lead midway through the set. A double block from Erin Faughnan and Grace Guerin secured the Catholic third set victory and pushed the lead to two sets to one.

After a back and forth beginning to the fourth set, Vassar held a 10-9 edge after a kill from Catholic’s Guerin. The Brewers responded with a 10-3 run as Hayes fired off three kills and service aces from Levine and freshman Ellie Kogan. After a Delahunty kill got the lead to 23-15, Catholic rallied off seven of the next eight points on four kills from Connaster. Hayes buried the final kill to tie the sets up at two.

Vassar and Catholic were tied at seven in the final set but the Cardinals scored the next eight points as Catholic won the first match in five sets.

Hayes led the Brewers with 12 kills while Hale added nine and Delahunty contributed eight. Voss handed out 21 assists for Vassar as Levine led the team in digs with 16. Hale had four of the eight blocks for the Brewers.

Connatser had a game-high 19 kills for the Cardinals and Olivia Blondin had six service aces. Sydney Sheppard also had a game-high 32 assists as Gaby Fernandez-Ferraiuoli had 15 digs.

Cabrini 3 – Vassar 0
The first set started with a 3-0 Vassar lead as Levine tallied back-to-back service aces. The score then went back and forth in the middle of the set when Delahunty buried a kill to make the score 9-10 in favor of Cabrini. The Cavaliers opened up the lead with the next three points until Delahunty countered with two service aces as the Brewers trimmed the lead down to one.

Cabrini scored five of the next seven points as Sam Heenan and Hannah Dalton fired off four kills for the Cavaliers. Gutierrez buried a kill for Vassar to cut the lead back to 17-19 until the Cavaliers recorded six of the next seven points to win the first set on a Dalton kill.

The second set was tied at eight following a Casalino kill for the Brewers but Jessie Donovan had two aces at the service line as the Cavaliers jumped out to a 16-12 lead in the second stanza.

Kills by Allison Clark and Heenan led to a 20-12 edge until freshman Hope Lagemann buried her first kill of the season. Senior Kaitlin Birnbaum buried an ace to cut the lead to 16-20 but Cabrini scored five of the next six to take the second set.

Sophomore Morgan Miller picked up two kills early in the third set to keep the Cabrini lead at three. A Hayes kill cut the Cavaliers lead to 8-10 and Miller’s solo block kept the Brewers within striking distance at 11-14. Cabrini tallied the next 11 out of 14 points to take a 14-25 advantage to win the match.

Hayes and Casalino each had five kills for Vassar while Voss led in assists with eight. Levine and Delahunty each had two service aces while Levine also added eight digs.

Dalton led the game with 13 kills and four aces while Clarke and Heenan each had eight kills. Lexi Conte led the team in assists with 16 while Taylor Downing added 13 assists.

Gina Custer had a game-high 16 digs for Cabrini.