PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Chatham Women's Volleyball (13-6, 8-2 PAC) team record win streak (8) with a 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-22) sweep over Franciscan (14-10, 7-3 PAC) on Wednesday night at the Athletic & Fitness Center.
The Cougars and Lady Barons would trade the first couple points back and forth before the Cougars would take an early 6-2 lead.
Zoie Bateman and
Paige Watson would kick things off with a total of three kills while
Evie White added a service ace. After exchanging more points back and forth, the Cougars would remain in the lead 15-14 before going on a three-point run. A kill from
Annelese Atkinson and two Lady Baron errors would put the Cougars ahead 18-14. The Lady Barons would once again battle with the Cougars, but one final three-point run would give the Cougars the gap they needed. The 23-19 lead would come from kills from White and Atkinson and a service ace from
Delaney Schwind. Bateman would get the final point with a kill to secure the first set win at 25-21.
The second set prove to be plenty more back and forth between the Cougars and Lady Barons. The Cougars didn't get the chance to pull away until their four-point run during which time they took the lead 14-9. The series of points started with a kill from
Maddy Roberts, followed by a kill from Bateman, then a service ace from Roberts, and finally after a timeout one final kill from Atkinson. The rest of the second would again go back and forth and remain extremely close between the two teams and even require extra points to be earned. It would be the Cougars who emerged victorious in the end with the second set win at 26-24 when Bateman, once again, got the final point with a kill.
The third set would be the closest between the Cougars and Lady Barons as they exchanged a point each time throughout the set. The Cougars would be able to take a two-point lead and make it 9-7 with an attack error and three kills total from
Becca Gesner and Bateman. After battling the rest of the set, the Cougars would finish things off with another four-point run to secure the set, and match, win at 25-22. A Gesner kill, attack error, Roberts kill, and finally an Atkinson kill would be the exact order in which the Cougars secured their sweep.
Bateman recorded a match-high 14 kills and added four digs and hit .263. Roberts finished with nine kills on 18 digs, one service ace, and one assist. Atkinson totaled nine kills as well hitting .364 with one dig, and one block. a match-high 2.5 blocks. Watson contributed a match-high 2.5 blocks adding four kills, one assist, and one dig.
Schwind dished out a match-high 19 assists and one service ace adding 13 digs as well.
Kelly Dougherty anchored the defense with a match-high 19 digs and added seven assists and a kill.
Chatham outhit Franciscan .226 to .140 and held a 48-39 advantage in kills.
The Cougars return home this Saturday, November 7th when they host Grove City at 7PM at the Athletic & Fitness Center.
