WASHINGTON, D.C.  — The Catholic volleyball team welcomed in both Rowan and Hood for a non-conference tri-match on Saturday afternoon at Franny Murray Court. It was senior day for the Cardinals for Brynne Burgess, Emma Monico, Grace Guerin and Aileen McPartland and the team honored its seniors with a 2-0 day with wins in both matches to get to 12-14 on the season.

MATCH ONE - Catholic 3, Rowan 2 (25-27, 25-20, 17-25, 25-23, 15-10)

In the most intense match of the day, the Cardinals kept scratching and clawing after falling behind 1-0 and 2-1 and came out with a thrilling 3-2 win over the Profs to kick off the tri-match.

In the first set, Catholic fought back from many deficits to hang in the set but found themselves down 20-16 in the late stages after the third consecutive kill from Rowan's Jena Kaul. The Cardinals remained unphased and responded with a 6-0 run to get out to a 22-20 lead, highlighted by three kills from Erin Faughnan. Guerin picked up a kill a few volleys later to tie the match up at 25 after Rowan gained the advantage back. The Profs however took advantage of back-to-back errors from the Cards to take the first set 27-25. 

Catholic responded well in the second set to pull the match back even at one with a 25-20 win. After falling behind 7-6 early, a 5-0 run put the Cardinals in the driver's seat with an 11-7 lead. Faughnan, Laci Freitas and Mariana Roman Cruz all delivered kills during the run. With a 24-20 lead, the Cardinals went back to Freitas to finish off the set win.

After the Profs took the third set convincingly, 25-17, Catholic had its back against the wall down 2-1 trying to force a fifth set. With the match on the line, the Cardinals offense put together two of its most impressive sets of the season in the fourth and fifth frame to help the comeback efforts. In the fourth set, the team picked up a game high 15 kills on 37 swings for a .351 hit percentage. Catholic found itself down 22-20 in the late stages, but took five of the last six volleys in the match to pull out the win and force a decisive fifth set. 

The Cardinals followed up the fourth set with an even more stellar offensive performance to help them close out a 15-10 win in set five. The Cardinals tallied 11 more kills on 17 attempts and hit a staggering .588 in the set. Catholic captured five of the last six volleys in the set, capped off by a kill from Julia Raab to finish off the match. 

Faughnan shined in the win for the Cardinals with a season-high 17 kills while hitting .300 in the match. Guerin tied her season high with 13 kills and Freitas had a career-high in the match with 12. Kate Berra and Anna Maria Carella split time as setters with Berra having 25 assists and Carella tallying a career-high with 24. Berra also added another double-double on the year as she had 12 digs. Gaby Hernandez-Ferraiuoli was the leader in digs with 21. Guerin and Faughnan were also forces on defense, picking up seven and five blocks respectively. 

The Cardinals picked up a season-high in kills as a team in the match with 62 while also tying their season-high in assists with 57. The win marked the first win for Catholic over Rowan since 2013 and they are now 5-2 all-time versus the Profs.

MATCH TWO - Catholic 3, Hood 1 (22-25, 26-24, 25-16, 25-21) 

Catholic dropped the opening set to Hood, 25-21 but were able to quickly bounce back after a tightly played second set. The Cardinals found themselves ahead 22-20 late in the second set but the Blazers were able to tie things up at 24. Faughnan came up with a big kill to earn Catholic a set point opportunity and Hernandez-Ferraiuoli finished off the set with an ace to pull the score back even at one.

The Cardinals had their most comfortable set win of the match in the third set behind a solid offensive performance, hitting .296 which was its highest of the match. Roman Cruz stepped up for Catholic, leading the attack with five kills in the set. Catholic defensively was also very sound in the set and held Hood to just a .059 hit percentage. The Cardinals used a 6-0 run in the middle of the set to take a comfortable nine point lead and went on to take the set 25-16.

The fourth set was closely played but the Cardinals used a 6-3 run in the late stages to win the set, 25-21, and capture their second victory of the day. Down the stretch, Ava Borcky picked up two kills as well as Faughnan and Roman Cruz to help pick up the win. After the win, the Cardinals are now 7-3 when playing at Franny Murray Court this season.

Freitas was once again a force offensively, leading the way with 11 kills. Raab and Faughnan finished behind her with 10 and eight kills respectively. Six Catholic players picked up five or more kills in the win. Berra was the leader in assists with 21 and Hernandez-Ferraiuoli added 16 digs to her season tally. Catholic also had nine aces as a team with Burgess having four of those.

The Cardinals are back at home in their next match for a Landmark matchup against Elizabethtown. Catholic will host the Blue Jays on Friday, October 25 at 6 pm.