WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Catholic volleyball team hosted their first tri-match of the 2026 season against Lebanon Valley and Christopher Newport on Saturday. The Cardinals first battled against the Flying Dutchmen, falling in a close match 3-1, before matching up against the Captains who took the 3-1 victory.
Match One: Catholic 1, Lebanon Valley 3
Catholic and Lebanon Valley were closely matched from the first serve.
 The Cardinals opened the scoring, going up two points as they took advantage of Dutchmen attack errors. They went onto build a small lead, but Lebanon Valley
 battled back, taking a lead of their own. The Dutchmen held on tight to their lead, and almost got away unscathed, but Catholic tied it up at 23. The teams duked it out until the final point, but Lebanon Valley took set one 26-24.
Juliette Cummings and
Julia Raab led the squad with three kills apiece, while
Anna Maria Carella had seven assists in the first set alone.Â
Maddie Wilkey had a stellar set at the net, with two solo blocks and two block assists. Cummings also had two solo blocks.
Down one set, Catholic found some momentum in the second, taking the lead and maintaining it for the duration of set two. The Cardinals focused on reception, logging 16 digs in the second, doubling their first-set digs.
Marin Stensrud had four in the set, while Raab and Carella notched three each. Despite best efforts from the Dutchmen, Catholic remained on top in the second, evening the score at one apiece with their 25-21 victory.
Lebanon Valley took an early lead in set three with a seven-point run, beginning with a kill from Jillian Jeffreys. The Cardinals found a few points with kills from Raab and Carella, then went on to capitalize on attack errors as they tied the score at nine. Catholic then took the lead with a kill from
Elianette Escalera. The Dutchmen responded with another six-point run to swing the momentum back in their direction. The Cardinals stayed close by as they looked to reclaim the lead, but Lebanon Valley took the third set, 25-23.
It was a seesaw battle in the fourth set from the first point. Lebanon Valley opened the scoring, but Catholic answered quickly, both teams scoring on bad sets. The score was tied one last time at 11 points before the Dutchmen began to pull away. They kept their fire lit, adding eight-straight points to their score. The Cardinals added a few more, but it wasn't enough to take back the lead and Lebanon Valley took set three, 25-17 to win the match 3-1.
Match Two: Catholic 1, Christopher Newport 3
Catholic came out hot in the first set, taking the first point of the match. Christopher Newport responded with three points, then went on to build a strong lead. The Cardinals were not out of it yet, evening the score at 14 points thanks to kills from
Maddie Wilkey,
Juliette Cummings,
Caroline Welsh and
Kate Berra. The battle for the lead began there, with both teams fighting to pull out the victory and take an early advantage. The score was tied up six more times in the set, but the Cardinals took the last two points as they capitalized on Captain attack errors, winning 26-24. This was their first set victory over CNU since 2018.
Down one set, Christopher Newport hunted for a victory over the next two sets. They went on a six-point run early in the second to set the tone. The Captains maintained a strong defense in sets two and three, holding the Cardinals to just 24 total points. They secured the win in both sets to go up 2-1 over Catholic.
The fight was not over yet in set four. Neither team could hold onto the lead, and it was a back-and-forth battle until it was tied up at 19. The Captains found a final rhythm that allowed them to score six-straight points to secure the set victory, 25-19 and match victory 3-1.
Inside the Box Score
- Defensively, Marin Stensrud and Alejandra Garcia led the team in digs, Stensrud with 18 on the day and Garcia with 16.Â
- Kate Kozlowski had the most solo blocks in the tri-match with five, while Caroline Welsh and Juliette Cummings followed with four. Cummings also had two block assists against the Captains while Welsh had one.
- Kate Berra and Anna Maria Carella were key playmakers across both games. Berra had 29 assists on Saturday and Carella followed with 26.
- Offensively, Julia Raab had the most kills on the day with 19, while also logging two service aces. Cummings, Welsh and Wilkey followed Raab with 11 kills on the day.
