WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Catholic women's volleyball team kept the train rolling on Saturday afternoon, winning a pair of contests against Cabrini and Vassar to make it three consecutive victories.

Once again, it was Brittany Connatser and Halie Murphy getting the job done on the attack for Catholic as they combined for 34 kills in a five-set win over Cabrini and 25 kills in a five-set win over Vassar. The veteran Connatser was tremendous, racking up 19 kills in each match while hitting over .300 in both contests.

Catholic – 3, Cabrini – 2 (25-15, 21-25, 27-29, 25-13, 15-9) 

After jumping out to a dominant first set win over Cabrini, the Cardinals had to battle back in the first match, dropping sets two and three before rallying back to win the fourth and fifth. Catholic hit .480 in the opener, scoring 14 of the final 19 points to win it 25-14. The dynamic duo on the outside tallied eight kills during the run.

Set two went Cabrini's way after the Cardinals jumped out to an 8-6 lead. Cabrini took the lead with a 6-0 run and never gave the lead back, winning it 25-21.

The third set was one of two major runs, first with Catholic hopping out to a 14-2 lead followed by an 8-0 run for Cabrini. Catholic re-extended the lead to 21-12, but Cabrini fought back to 21-19 and 23-22 before finally tying the set at 24-24. The Cavaliers went on to take the set 29-27.
Catholic found its groove once again in the fourth, looking for like the team from the first set and early in the third, once again taking an early lead. This time, a kill form Connatser made it 13-5 and Cabrini never got closer than six down the rest of the set. Back-to-back kills from Connatser made it 24-11 before a service error finally ended the set with Catholic on top 25-13.

In the deciding set, kills from Connatser, freshman Erin Faughnan, and two from freshman Tanya Sichling sent Catholic to a 7-3 lead. Connatser and junior Olivia Blondin had kills to make it 11-6 and who else but the veteran to end the match with a kill.

Catholic hit .263 in the match, tallying 60 total kills. Junior Sydney Sheppard dished out 41 assists in the match. Defensively, freshman Izzy Steinberg had 15 digs, junior Gaby Hernandez-Ferraiuoli had 12 and Blondin chipped in with 11. Faughnan, Murphy, and sophomore Grace Guerin were outstanding at the net, each racking up at least five blocks.

Hannah Dalton had 23 kills for Cabrini while Sam Heenan was effificent with 13, hitting .423.

Catholic – 3, Vassar – 2 (21-25, 25-16, 25-15, 22-25, 15-7)

In match two, it was Connatser once again leading the way with 19 kills while Blondin joined in with nine. In reverse of match one, Catholic dropped the first set, 25-21, before winning the second and third sets in dominant fashion. The Brewers swung back to take the fourth, but Catholic closed it out in the fifth, taking the set 15-7

In winning the first set, Vassar hit .345, but Catholic tightened up and held them to a hitting percentage of .185 or below in each of the next four sets while the Brewers hit a negative percentage in three of the final four.

In set two, a kill from Blondin made it 11-7 in favor of the Cardinals. Vassar took the next two points before a 13-2 Cardinal run put the set out of reach. Hernandez-Ferrauioli had three service aces in a four-point span to put Catholic ahead 24-11. Connatser closed it out after five straight Vassar points.

In the third, it was Faughnan and Guerin registering kills to make it 10-5 Catholic. Three straight attack errors from the Brewers extended the Catholic lead to 14-8 moments before a wild run of four straight service aces from Blondin pushed the lead to 19-10. Catholic took the set 25-15 on a Brewer attack error.

Vassar jumped ahead 23-15 before a late Catholic rally cut it to 24-22 in the fourth set, but the Brewers finished it off to send it to a fifth set.

In the final set, Catholic fell behind 3-1 before a kill from Murphy and a slew of Vassar mistakes gave the Cardinals a 6-3 lead. The Brewers tied it at 7-7 before eight straight Cardinal points made it three straight victories for Catholic.

Sheppard handed out 32 assists in the second match, digging out four balls as well. Hernandez-Ferraiuoli reached double-digits in digs again with 15 while combining with Blondin to record 10 of the team's 14 aces.

Catholic welcomes the Stevenson Mustangs to Franny Murray Court on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.