BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Catholic volleyball team started a three-game weekend road trip and Landmark foe Moravian on Friday night trying to stay above .500 in conference matches. The Greyhounds used a third set comeback to spur them on to a 3-1 victory over the Cardinals.
After falling behind 1-0 in the opening set with a 25-21 defeat, the Cardinals looked to bounce back to pull back even in the second set and Catholic did just that by pulling out a slight 25-23 set win. The Cardinals started out strong with a 6-2 run to open the set with back-to-back aces from
Anna Maria Carella and kills picked up by
Erin Faughnan,
Grace Guerin and
Laci Freitas. After Moravian evened things up by 10, Catholic went on a 9-3 run to open up a six point lead which was its largest in the set. The Greyhounds answered with six consecutive volley wins and the set came down to the final stages all even at 22. The Cardinals earned two points on errors from Moravian and
Julia Raab closed out the set with a kill to give Catholic a 25-23 victory to tie things up at one.
After the first several volleys led to a 7-7 tie between the two teams, the Cardinals seized control of the set with a 7-1 run to get ahead 14-8.
Mariana Roman Cruz started off the run with a kill with
Gaby Hernandez-Ferraiuoli, Faughnan and Raab also adding kills to the cause. Fortunes changed later in the set after a Moravian timeout with the Greyhounds closing the set on an 11-4 run to steal the third set from the Cards, 27-25. Payton Reuber picked up each of the final two kills to close out the third set for Moravian.
Once again the beginning of the set was neck and neck with the teams being tied at 11 at the midway point. Moravian once again made the plays down the stretch to pull away and capture a decisive 25-17 set four win to take the match, 3-1. The loss drops the Cardinals to 13-17 on the season and 4-4 in Landmark play.
Faughnan led the way in kills for the Cardinals with 12 on 24 swings for a .417 hit percentage. Raab was behind her with seven and Roman Cru tallied six.
Kate Berra and Carella were the assists leaders with 18 and 17 respectively and Carella also added 13 digs for a double-double. Hernandez-Ferraiuoli led the way in digs with 17.
Catholic is back in action tomorrow for a tri-match at Wilkes where they will take on the Colonels and Messiah. The Cardinals first match is slated to start at noon inside the Marts Center.
