The 18th-ranked Case Western Reserve University volleyball team ended its season in heartbreaking fashion, falling in five sets (25-18, 25-20, 24-26, 21-25, 6-15) to the University of Dubuque in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship at the DeVos Fieldhouse on the campus of Hope College in Holland, Michigan on Thursday afternoon.

The Spartans concluded the season with a record of 24-8, while UD improved to 25-9. Dubuque will face the winner of the match between Millikin and Cornell College on Friday.

Junior Amanda Ngo led the Spartans with 19 kills on a .371 hitting percentage and nine total blocks. Senior Rea Marfatia added 13 kills and 13 digs, junior Kalli Wall put down 12 kills and added six blocks, and senior Lily Crouch finished with 11 kills, four blocks, and seven digs. First-year Sophia Datto paced the team with 25 digs. Splitting the setting duties were senior Carly Scott (27 assists, 15 digs) and first-year Avery Basinger (21 assists, 17 digs).

Trailing 16-15 in the first set, Wall put down a kill to start a 5-0 for Case Western Reserve. The teams traded the next four points before Marfatia made the score 23-18 with a kill. Following a timeout, a kill by Ngo put CWRU ahead by six before Dubuque fought off two set points. Ngo closed the set with her sixth kill, giving Case Western Reserve a 1-0 edge.

CWRU did not trail in the second set, starting at 5-0 run with the score tied at three early in the period. A pair of Dubuque points cut the deficit to three before a 6-0 Case Western Reserve run made the score 14-5. The team increased its advantage to 11 with back-to-back attacking errors, its largest of the set. After a 5-0 Dubuque run made the score 18-12, CWRU scored the next four points to rebuild its double-digit advantage. UD fought off three set points before Wall put Case Western Reserve ahead two sets to zero with a kill.

Needing a win to stay alive, Dubuque led by seven, 12-5, early in the third set. Three consecutive points increased the advantage to nine, but Case Western Reserve responded with four points in a row to cut its deficit to five. Trailing by six, 20-14, later in the set, a kill by Crouch started the Spartans on a run. With the senior behind the service line, CWRU scored the next eight points, taking a 23-20 lead. Dubuque finished the set on a 6-1 run, taking the third set by two.

Dubuque led by as many as nine points in the fourth set, 20-11. Case Western Reserve cut its deficit to four, 22-18, before UD scored the next two points to serve for set point. CWRU won the next three points, however, the Spartan rally fell short, leading to a fifth set.

UD began the final period with six points in a row before Ngo put Case Western Reserve on the board with a kill. Marfatia followed with a kill to cut the deficit to four, but the Spartans from Iowa won the next five points to take a commanding nine-point advantage. CWRU fought back but could only cut the deficit to seven before falling on a kill.  

Spartan Notes

• CWRU appeared in the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season and fourth time overall. The Spartans were making their second trip in a row to Hope for the first round.
• Ngo's 19 kills match a program record for a postseason contest, tying the mark set by Rachel Suchy and Tricia McCutchan in the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament match
• The match marked the final of the careers of the team's nine seniors: Crouch, Marfatia, Scott, Gwendolyn Hayes, Jolie Held, Chloe Maciejewski, Erin Murphy, Maria Tuepker, and Deme Yianas. The class went 81-37 (.686) in four seasons, the second-best record for the program over any four year stretch