The Catholic volleyball team earned a split on Saturday afternoon in the Rowan tri-match, defeating Widener before falling to Rowan. The Cardinals battled to a five-set win over Widener despite falling down 2-1 in the match. Catholic took the opener against Rowan, but fell in four sets in Saturday's concluding match.

Catholic 3-2 Widener (30-32, 25-17, 20-25, 25-22, 15-12) 

The Cardinals hit .217, getting 23 kills from freshman Halie Murphy in Saturday's neutral site victory over Widener. Murphy hit .241 in the match to lead the way while junior Olivia Blondin had a double-double with 17 kills and 10 digs and senior Brittany Connatser added 11 kills.

Junior Sydney Sheppard dished out 40 assists and notched 12 digs while Gaby Hernandez-Ferraiuoli had 34 digs.

The Cardinals dropped the first set of Saturday's contest in a thriller, falling 32-30. Catholic fell behind early in set one, trailing 12-6 before roaring back with six straight points. The Cardinals took a 24-22 lead after a Widener attack error, but the extended set concluded with an attack error, putting the Pride up 1-0.

Catholic dominated the second set, winning 25-17 to tie the contest at 1-1. Tied 12-12, the Cardinals ripped off a 7-1 run to take a 19-13 lead in the set on a kill from Blondin. A Connatser kill and an attack error gave the Cards the set.

Widener stole the third set to take a 2-1 lead in the contest, taking the last five points after a Blondin kill tied it at 20-20.

Catholic trailed 16-13 and 18-17 in the fourth set before ripping off five straight points to jump out to a 21-18 lead. Murphy led the run for the Cardinals and Connatser finished it off for a 25-22 set win.

In the fifth and final set, sophomore Grace Guerin had back-to-back kills to put Catholic ahead 12-7. Widener took the next four points, but a Sheppard ace and a Connatser kill closed out the win for the Cardinals.

Catholic hit .406 in the fourth set and .320 in the fifth set to finish off the win.

Catholic 1-3 Rowan (25-23, 28-30, 21-25, 22-25)

The Cardinals took the first set of the contest before falling in four sets to Rowan in the second match of the day for Catholic. Catholic hit .172 in the contest while Rowan hit .211. The Owls racked up 12 service aces to the Cardinals 11.

In set one, Catholic hit .226 and tallied 13 kills to win the first set 25-23. Rowan took a 13-9 before an Izzy Steinberg ace tied the set at 15-15. Catholic took the next six points, jumping ahead 21-15 in the set, getting three kills from Murphy and a pair of kills from Guerin. Rowan cut it to 21-19 and 23-22, but kills from Blondin and Connatser finished the set victory off for the Cardinals.

The second set was as exciting as they come as Rowan needed 30 points to even the match up at 1-1. Once again it was Rowan jumping out early, this time to an 11-5 lead before Catholic rallied back to make it 14-12. A pair of miscues put the Cardinals within one at 19-18 before Rowan stretched the lead to three. A kill from Blondin and an ace from Sheppard made it a 22-21 game. Catholic tied it at 24 after another Murphy kill. Catholic went on to take a 28-27 lead on another Blondin kill before Rowan took the final three points of the set to tie the contest. Despite dropping the set, the Cardinals hit an impressive .326 in the second.

The Catholic offense slowed down a bit in the third set as Catholic hit just .061, dropping the set 25-21. A Blondin kill made it 14-13 in the middle of the set, but Rowan took the next five points to pull away.

The fourth set proved to be another tight one for Catholic, as they took a 15-14 lead on a Sheppard ace before ultimately falling short. Back-to-back kills from Connatser gave Catholic an 18-17 lead and another Blondin kill made it 21-20, but the Owls took five of the next six points to close it out.

Connatser led the way in game two with 17 kills while Murphy had 15 and Blondin added 11. Connatser was the most efficient of the bunch, hitting .294. Sheppard dished our 46 assists and had five aces while Hernandez-Ferraiuoli had 19 digs. Blondin tallied a double-double by adding 16 digs.

The Cardinals host their first home contest of the season on Wednesday, September 14 at 7 p.m. when they host the Eagles of Mary Washington.