RALEIGH, N.C. — The Catholic volleyball team started off its weekend at the Raleigh Invitational with a Friday night contest against Oglethorpe. After winning a tightly played opening set, the Cardinals were unable to carry on the momentum and dropped the match to the Stormy Petrels, 3-1.
The first set was played tightly throughout between the two squads but Catholic was able to seize control after going on a 6-1 run to get ahead 21-16. During this run,
Anna Maria Carella,
Vivian O'Brien and
Tanya Sichling all picked up kills with
Kate Berra adding in an ace. The Cardinals fended off a late run from the Stormy Petrels, and
Ava Borcky tallied a kill to get Catholic to a set point and they would ultimately take the set after an Oglethorpe service error, 25-23.
Oglethorpe put together its best all around set in the second one to pull the match back even at one. As a team, they picked up 13 kills and had a .306 hit percentage, while at the same time playing very sound defensively and holding the Cards to just a .091 hit percentage. In the third set, Catholic fell into a 7-1 hole early in the set that made it difficult to battle back. The Cardinals fought back to get within three, spurred by three kills from
Erin Faughnan. With the score at 13-9, Catholic went on another 5-0 to take its first lead of the set. Oglethorpe responded by taking 12 of the last 18 volleys of the set and taking a 25-18 set three win. Faughnan and Borcky led the attack for Catholic in the set, totaling four and three kills respectively.
The Stormy Petrels were once again strong defensively in the fourth and decisive set, holding the Cardinals to their lowest hit percentage of the match, .047. Oglethorpe finished off the match on its first match point on a service ace from Briella Kohler to take home the 3-1 win.
Borcky led the Cardinals in kills for the second time this season with a career-high of nine, followed by Faughnan (8) and Sichling (6).
Gaby Hernandez-Ferraiuoli added 24 more digs on to her season total and Berra led the way in assists with 18 and also added in 12 digs.
Gracie Sims was the only player to reach double-digit kills with 14. Autumn Lily contributed a double-double with 23 assists and 10 digs to help move the Stormy Petrels to 3-1 on the season.
Catholic is back in action with two more matches at the Raleigh Invitational tomorrow against Guilford and Randolph-Macon at the Hermann Athletic Center. The Cardinals first match is slated for 9 am.
