Box Score The Case Western Reserve University volleyball team kept its perfect home record intact, defeating Thiel College 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-14) at Horsburgh, Gymnasium on Wednesday afternoon.
The win was the team's fifth in as many games at home this season, and extends its home winning streak to seven-straight matches, dating back to last season. The Spartans improved to 13-8 overall with the win, while Thiel dropped to 8-13 with the setback.
After a slow start in the opening set, the Spartans settled in to claim a 25-17 victory. CWRU trailed by as many as four in the first stanza (9-5), but battled back, tying the match at 10-10 on a block by sophomores Katie Kaminski and Bailey Hagedorn. The Spartans went on to lead by as many as nine points in the set, grabbing a 24-15 lead on a kill by Kaminski, and closed out the set on one of 10 errors committed by the Tomcats in the frame.
Unlike the first set, CWRU was not plagued by a slow start in the second, leading wire-to-wire for a 25-12 win. The Spartans took an early 8-2 lead following a kill by junior Samantha Rodriguez, and led by as many as 13. The Spartans hit .333 in the second set with 13 kills.
Thiel took a 5-3 lead early in the third set, but CWRU would go on to score nine of the next 10 points, including an eight-point rally on junior Faith Ellis' serve, to put the match out of reach. A kill by sophomore Marlee Dingle gave CWRU the 25-14 victory in the set, and a 3-0 win in the match.
Juniors Karley King and Haley Sims each finished with a team-leading eight kills apiece, with Sims hitting .615 and King adding a .471 attack percentage. Ellis led the team with 11 assists, and sophomore Anna Jaskoviak notched a Spartan-best 16 digs. The Spartans finished the match with a team attack percentage of .300, the sixth time this season the team has recorded a .300 attack percentage or higher in a match.
The sweep was the Spartans' sixth this season, and their first since a 3-0 win over Buffalo State on September 15th.
The Spartans will be off from competition for the next 10 days, before returning to action at the second University Athletic Association Round Robin of the year, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 13th and 14th. Case Western Reserve will open play at the event against New York University at 10:30 a.m. on October 13th.
