FREDERICK, Md. – The 2026 campaign began for Catholic volleyball on Tuesday night with a road contest against Hood, marking the first game with the program for head coach
Patti Westenberg. The Cardinals started the season off on the right foot, cruising to a 3-0 victory over the Blazers to give Westenberg her first victory with the program in convincing fashion.
The Cardinals took advantage of a few early errors from the Blazers and Maddie Wilkey picked up a kill, the first one of the season for the team, to help open up a 4-1 lead early. Hood would take momentum back however as the set progressed and eventually went on a 5-0 run to take a 13-11 advantage. Trailing 17-14, Catholic found a groove late in the opening set and closed it out with an 11-3 run to capture the frame 25-20, taking a 1-0 lead. Laci Freitas recorded two kills during the run with Julia Turchiano adding one as well and the Cardinals were strong in service throughout the set with five aces.
Catholic kept its foot on the gas to begin the second set, scoring the first seven points of the frame, three of which coming off aces from Julia Raab. After a kill from Vivian O'Brien gave the Cardinals a 10-4 advantage, the Blazers came racing back with a 6-0 run to knot things back up. Catholic however once again closed the set out strong, outscoring Hood 15-6 the rest of the way to take a convincing 2-0 lead. Six different players notched kills for the Cardinals over this run and they held the Blazers to a -.029 hitting percentage during the second set.
The teams traded rallies back-and-forth in the third set before the Cardinals went on an 8-0 run, aided by six attacking errors from the Blazers, to push the lead out to 14-5 in the frame. Despite a comeback effort from Hood that tied the set up at 21 in the late stages, Freitas came up with a kill to put Catholic back on top, helping the squad to a 25-23 set win to finish off the sweep in the season opener.
Dating back to 2007, the Cardinals have now defeated the Blazers in the last 18 meetings between the two programs and it was the 12th time the match ended in a 3-0 sweep.
Inside the Box Score
- The Cardinals finished the match with an impressive 15 aces, the most for the program in a match since 2023 against Salisbury (Nov. 4). The 15 aces are also tied for the sixth-most in a match in program history since 25-point scoring began in 2008. Raab led the team in that category which was a career-high for the junior.
- Anna Maria Carella had a solid all-around game for Catholic, finishing with a team-high eight digs to go along with eight assists.
- The Blazers were held to .000 hitting percentage with 24 attack errors on 95 total attempts. The Cardinals also recorded eight blocks with Kate Kozlowski leading the way with two.
Catholic returns to the court on Friday, September 4 to take on Bard. The match is set to start at 4 pm on the Alumni Courts in Glenside, Pa.
