The WVU volleyball team opened the Colgate Ellis Rowland Memorial Tournament with a loss Thursday night against the hosting Raiders 3-2.
For Colgate, Thursday’s match was their first at home this season, and they unveiled their 2022 Patriot League Championship banner ahead of playing the Mountaineers. The Raiders currently hold a 3-4 season record after the victory.
The Mountaineers played with consistent ball control throughout the match. Fifth year transfer students Lauren DeLo and Camilla Covas led this effort, with DeLo tallying 50 assists and nine digs from the setter position and Covas leading defensive efforts with a match high 26 digs.
Hailey Green led West Virginia from the front row with her 24 kills on 51 attacks and eight errors. Green brought a fierce presence throughout and had the most kills in the match, with sophomore teammate Bailey Miller tallying the second most with 17 kills.
Colgate came out on top in the first set 27-25, with frequent errors made by both teams. Despite having better ball control defensively from the start of the match, the Mountaineers could not translate these efforts to points, as the team had 13 attack errors and a hitting percentage of .027 in the first set.
Both teams struggled serving early, with the Raiders making six service errors and WVU having four, but it was an ace by fifth year middle blocker Sophie Thompson that closed the set for Colgate. It was the only ace by either team for the entire set.
West Virginia limited their errors significantly in the second set, improving to a hitting percentage of .484 compared to Colgate’s .184 and just three attack errors and two service errors. The Mountaineers took a five point lead early and had a variety of kills off high sets to middle blockers Tierney Jackson and Maddy McGath.
The Raiders kept it close toward the end, with senior OH Libby Overmyer picking up a kill on her first play of the match to bring the score to 20-18. West Virginia went on a three point run immediately after, though, and closed the set with a tip from McGath.
Despite Overmyer entering the match late in the second set, she immediately made an impact for Colgate, matching Hailey Green’s six kills in the third set. With her leadership, the tough serving of junior setter Sydney Jones, and multiple West Virginia struggles in the back row at the end of the set, the Raiders won the back and forth third set 25-23.
West Virginia pulled ahead early once again in the fourth set, but Colgate’s Caroline Altergott, rostered as a “libero/outside hitter,” went on a six point serving run, ending with back-to-back aces to take the lead 19-18. A timeout from WVU coach Reed Sunahara was successful in stopping the run, though, and the Mountaineers won the set 28-26.
West Virginia tried to carry this momentum into the fifth set, starting the set with a 3-0 lead. Colgate’s head coach Ryan Baker stopped the momentum with a timeout and quickly took a three point lead of their own at 11-8 when WVU finally took their first timeout of the set. It turned out to be too little too late, and Libby Overmyer’s 14th kill of the match won the final set for the Raiders.
For Colgate, Thursday’s match was their first at home this season, and they unveiled their 2022 Patriot League Championship banner ahead of playing the Mountaineers. The Raiders currently hold a 3-4 season record after the victory.
The loss brings West Virginia to a season record of 2-5 and extends the team’s losing streak to four games. They will attempt to bounce back Friday in their second game of the tournament against Cornell at 3 p.m.
