ATLANTA, Ga. – The Case Western Reserve University volleyball team opened up University Athletic Association play with a dramatic 3-2 win over Carnegie Mellon University on the opening day (Saturday, October 2) of the UAA Round Robin #1 at Emory University. The Spartans won their second-straight five set match and won their 11th straight overall to improve to 14-3 overall and 1-0 in the UAA. CMU dropped to 9-9 (0-1 UAA) with the loss.

Case dropped the first set, 25-14, but rebounded to win the next two by scores of 25-19 and 25-15. The Tartans evened the match in the fourth set, 25-21, but Case was able to secure the win by a score of 15-9 in the deciding frame.

Junior middle hitter Tricia McCutchan (Hamilton, OH/Stephen T. Badin) led all players with 19 kills with a hit percentage of .306, and was aided by sophomore right side Allie Palmer (Avon Lake, OH/Avon Lake) and junior outside hitter Rachel Suchy (Venetia, PA/Peters Township), who each added eight kills. Defensively, the Spartans had five players in double-digits in digs, led by sophomore libero Rachel Gulasey (Cleveland, OH/Magnificat), who had 21 on the afternoon. Sophomore setter Breana Freeman (Geneva, OH/Geneva) paced the offense with 38 assists, and also added 18 digs on the defensive end.

Case will continue UAA action tomorrow versus New York University at 10:00 a.m. and Emory at 2:00 p.m.