From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
The Case Western Reserve University volleyball team won by a score of 3-0 to the University of Rochester (N.Y.) in the seventh place match at the 2018 University Athletic Association Championship on Saturday afternoon in Rochester, New York.
The Spartans conclude the season at 18-14. The program has produced 10 winning seasons in the past 11 years.
The Spartans edged Rochester (23-12) by scores of 25-23, 25-18 and 26-24.
Rochester led early in the first set after getting out to an 11-9 lead, but the Spartans responded quickly by going on a 4-1 run to take the 13-12 advantage. Sophomore setter Jordyn Harberts capped off the run with service ace. CWRU was able to keep that momentum and increased its leads to 20-16 after a kill from freshman outside hitter Lauren Carmon. After some back and forth play, the Spartans were able to close out the set with a 25-23 victory.
The Yellowjackets came out strong in the second set by leading 9-1, but the Spartans responded with a 15-5 run after a kill from junior outside hitter Karley King put CWRU up 16-14. The Spartans closed out the set with a kill by Carmon and an attack error from Rochester's Kiara Carrasquilla to clinch the match victory.
CWRU came out firing in the third set to get out to a 13-7 lead after a ball handling error by Rochester's Beth Ghyzel. The Yellowjackets responded with a 17-10 run to take the lead at 24-23, but CWRU would fight back to win the final three points of the match as sophomore outside hitter Jana Giaquinto accounted for the last two kills by the Spartans.
Statistically, sophomore middle blocker Katie Kaminski led the Spartan attack with 12 kills, while King contributed 10. Junior setter Faith Ellis paced the offense with 21 assists.
Defensively, sophomore libero Anna Jaskoviak led the Spartans with 18 digs, while Carmon and Harberts added 12 and 11, respectively.
Allie DeRubertis and Alara Kocak each led the Yellowjackets with nine kills apiece, while Beth Ghyzel set the Rochester offense with 30 assists. Megan Hauer and DeRubertis led the defense with 17 and 16 digs, respectively.