WILKES-BARRE, Pa.  —  The Catholic volleyball team played in a tri-match against Landmark opponent Wilkes and in a non-conference match against Messiah in the second to last weekend of action in the regular season. 

MATCH ONE - Catholic 3, Wilkes 1 (25-15, 24-26, 25-23, 25-14)

The Cardinals opened the match up with a dominant opening set win where they picked up 13 kills on 25 swings while hitting .360. The Cardinals went on a 9-0 run in the early portion of the set to get out to a 11-5 lead and they would hold the lead for the remainder of the set. Seven different Catholic players picked up kills to help lead to a 25-15 set win.

In the second set, Catholic held a 22-19 lead late before Wilkes went on a 7-2 set to pull the match even at one. The Colonels totaled their most kills in a set in the match with 16 while hitting .189.

The third set was also closely played with Wilkes getting out to a slight 19-16 edge after a kill from Jenna Baron. The Cardinals responded with a 7-3 run to take a late 23-22 lead in the set spurred by two kills from Grace Guerin and kills from Laci Freitas and Ava Borcky. Julia Raab tallied a kill to give the Cardinals a set point and an error from the Colonels put the Cardinals back on top 2-1 with a set three win. 

After taking a small 7-6 deficit in the early stages of the fourth set, the Cardinals responded with a 7-0 run to pull ahead 13-7. Erin Faughnan came up with three straight kills during the run with Kate Berra also adding an ace to the cause. The Cardinals opened up multiple 11 point leads from that point on and went to Alani Rivera Diaz for the match clinching kill to seal a 3-1 win for Catholic.

Just like last night, Faughnan was very efficient offensively with 13 kills on 27 swings for a .370 hitting percentage to lead Catholic in all categories. Raab finished behind her with nine kills and Guerin, Rivera Diaz and Freitas all added seven kills. Berra and Anna Maria Carella both finished with 20 and 18 assists respectively and Carella also led the team in aces with four. Gaby Hernandez-Ferraiuoli led the way in digs with 16 and Guerin was a force as usual in the middle with five blocks. 

The Cardinals finished 5-4 in Landmark play with the win and will play in the Landmark Conference tournament which starts on Tuesday, November 16.

MATCH TWO - Messiah 3, Catholic 0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-21)

Despite the Cardinals having their most kills in a set with 10 in the opening set, the Falcons were extremely successful offensively with 14 kills while hitting .345 to win the frame 25-21. The Cardinals picked up kills from Faughnan and Guerin late in the set to move the score to 22-21 but Messiah captured each of the last three volleys to close out the set win.

Messiah had its best defensive set in the second, holding Catholic to a -.114 hit percentage to lock down its most convincing win in the match, 25-16.

The Cardinals once again battled in the third set and went on a 5-1 run in the later stages to go ahead 19-18 after Brynne Burgess recorded an ace. The Falcons quickly took momentum back with a 5-0 run of their own and went on to finish off the sweep with a 25-21 third set win. The Cardinals finished with their highest hit percentage in a set at .276.
 
Raab was once again high on the kills chart, leading the way with six in the match, followed by Faughan and Freitas who both had five. Berra added 11 more assists with Carella behind her with eight. Hernandez-Ferraiuoli was once again the leader in digs with eight.

Catholic wraps up its regular season at Franny Murray Court on Friday, November 8 when they host a tri-match against Lynchburg and Marymount (Va.). The action will get started at 3 pm when the Cardinals take on the Hornets.