PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Feb. 3, 2024 - The Cougars earned their first home win in program history after defeating Carlow (0-6, 0-1) in five sets. In its second match of the day, Chatham lost to Penn State Altoona (4-4, 1-0 AMCC) in four. The men are 2-5 overall and leaned on their defense to get their second win of the season. 

Match one saw the Cougars trail 2-1 entering the fourth set. After the Celtics hit .200 through the first three sets, Chatham held the visitors to .029 hitting the rest of the way, capped off with a -.071 fifth set. Four players defended 12 or more Carlow attacks with freshmen Benjamin Shelestack (16) and Luis Carrasquillo (15) combining for 31 of Chatham's 76 digs. The Purple and Grey tied their season-high of seven blocks as Shelestack led the way with four. Overall, Carlow hit .131, the second-lowest mark of any Chatham opponent this year. 

Offensively, freshmen Tim McCabe (12) and Shelestak (23) led the way with a combined 35 kills. Freshman Tyler McKnight contributed eight kills and senior Maximilian Barrett had seven. Freshman Alex Moncello tied a season-high 24 assists, followed by Coulter Chaffee's 18. 

In match two, the Cougars were plagued with service errors, amassing a year-high 21. The team struggled to find a rhythm, as their two top attackers (Shelestak and McCabe) hit a combined .178. McCabe (12) and Shelestak (14) did combine for 26 of Chatham's 40 kills. Moncello set a new career high of 25 assists, accounting for all but 12 of the Cougars' 37 assists. Shelestak also served three aces to bring his point total to 17. 

While defending, the team had their second-most digs of the year with 65. Five players had six or more digs, led by Carrasquillo's 17.

The Cougars will travel to Bethany on Tuesday for a match at 6 p.m.