The 16th-ranked Case Western Reserve University volleyball team placed fourth in the University Athletic Association after a four-set loss (21-25, 17-25, 25-20, 17-25) to 20th-ranked University of Chicago in the UAA Third-Place Match on Saturday morning at Louis Alexander Palestra on the campus of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York.

The Spartans fell to 24-7 with the setback today, while the Maroons improved to 24-10.

Senior Rea Marfatia and junior Amanda Ngo both had nine kills, with Marfatia adding 14 digs and Ngo contributing five blocks (two solo). Junior Kalli Wall had eight kills and five blocks. Defensively, first-year Sophia Datto had a team-high 22 digs, and senior Carly Scott dug out 11 attacks. Scott paced the team with 20 assists, and first-year Avery Basinger added 15 assists.     

With the score tied at eight early in the first set, the Maroons used a 5-1 run to take a four-point lead. After the teams traded pairs of kills, a 4-0 Spartan run capped by a kill from Wall re-tied the score at 15. CWRU and Chicago traded kills before the Maroons won three consecutive points, prompting a Spartan timeout with the score at 19-16. After the break, a service error brought Case Western Reserve within two, but a kill and an attacking error increased the Chicago advantage to four. Back-to-back kills from Ngo and senior Chloe Maciejewski brought the Spartans within two once again. However, the Maroons responded with a kill and service ace to double their lead to 23-19. Following a timeout, the Spartans scored the next two points. Chicago finished the set with a pair of kills to lead 1-0.

The Maroons led for the entire second set. Trailing by seven in the middle of the period, the Spartans scored on four consecutive rallies to cut their deficit to just three. However, that would be the closest they would get to tying the score for the remainder of the set.

With Chicago leading 6-5 in the third set, the Maroons won five of the next seven points to take a four-point advantage. A block by Ngo and service ace from senior Maria Tuepker trimmed the Spartan deficit to two. However, four consecutive Chicago points gave the Maroons a 15-9 lead. Later in the set, Marfatia sparked a 6-0 CWRU run with a kill, with the Spartans tying the score at 18 on a kill by Wall. Wall and junior Kiya Levy then blocked a Chicago attack, giving the Spartans the lead, and a Maroon attacking error extended the run and increased the Case Western Reserve advantage. The teams traded kills, and Chicago committed another error, making the score 22-19 CWRU. During the 10-1 Spartan run, Wall contributed four Case Western Reserve points with two kills and two blocks. Following the final timeout of the set, the Maroons error on another attack to add to the Spartan lead. The teams traded kills before Ngo forced the fourth set with her seventh kill of the match.

CWRU led the fourth set 8-5 before the Maroons used a 4-1 run to tie the score at nine. After a block, Chicago used an 11-0 run to take a lead it would not relinquish.

The Spartans will learn their postseason fate on Monday, November 18 during the NCAA Division III Volleyball Selection Show which is scheduled to air on ncaa.com at 1 p.m.

Spartan Notes

• CWRU entered play on Saturday ranked 16th in the NCAA Power Index (NPI), which is used to determine the at-large selections to the NCAA Tournament. The Spartans were fifth among teams without a projected automatic selection with 21 teams receiving at-large bids
• Ngo (99.0) and senior Lily Crouch (93.0) finished the regular season with at least 90 blocks. Crouch averaged 1.01 per set, Ngo averaged 0.93 per set, and Levy average 0.92 per set, totaling 61.0