The Case Western Reserve University volleyball team won its 10th consecutive match to begin the 2024 season, defeating Albion College in four sets (25-21, 25-9, 23-25, 25-16) on the first day of the Bishop Invitational hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University at the Branch Rickey Arena in Delaware, Ohio, on Friday evening.

The Spartans improved to 10-0 to start the season, equaling its best-ever start to a campaign, while the Britons dropped to 2-7 in 2024.

Offensively, senior Rea Marfatia led the attack with a team-high 23 kills on a .351 hitting percentage. Seniors Lily Crouch and Carly Scott contributed 10 and six kills, respectively. Scott directed the offense with 33 assists and paced the team lead with 15 digs, and first-year Avery Basinger had a season-high 10 assists. Sophomores Sude Naz Item and Emily Goodpaster also had 12 digs with Marfatia adding 13. At the net, Crouch and junior Amanda Ngo totaled three blocks each.

With the first set tied at five, CWRU scored five of the next six points to take a 10-6 lead. Albion cut its deficit to one, using a service ace to make the score 11-10. However, four consecutive Spartan points, including kills by Ngo and senior Chloe Maciejewski and a service ace from Goodpaster, increased the team's lead to five. Following a 3-0 Briton run, CWRU used a 6-1 run to take a seven-point lead and prompt an Albion timeout. With the Spartans two points from clinching the set, the Britons won the next five points, making the score 23-21. However, back-to-back attacking errors gave the first set to the Spartans.

CWRU won the first nine points of the second stanza and led for the entire set. Scott and Marfatia both had two kills during the opening run. The Case Western Reserve lead shrank to six, 10-4, but quickly increased to 13 on an 8-1 Spartan run. The Spartans ended the set with wins in seven of the final 11 rallies, easily claiming the second period by a score of 25-9.

Case Western Reserve had a .419 attacking percentage in the second set, converting 14 of its 31 attacks into kills with just one error. Defensively, the team forced nine attacking errors with one block and limited the Britons to a -.079 hitting percentage.

The Spartans continued their strong start to the match at the beginning of the third set, opening with an 8-3 lead. Albion fought back, winning seven of the next 10 rallies to shrink its deficit to one, 11-10. After a CWRU timeout, sophomore Katie Yanni put Case Western Reserve up two with a kill. The Britons responded with a point, but back-to-back kills from Marfatia increased the Spartan lead to three. Albion would continue keeping the score close in the set with the Spartans leading by no more than two points over the next 15 rallies. A kill by Basinger late in the set made the score 21-19 and prompted an Albion timeout. Following the break, Crouch put down an attack to increase the advantage to three, but two consecutive Briton points cut the lead to one. Despite a CWRU timeout, Albion won the following two rallies on a pair of blocks, earning the team's first lead of the set. After Marfatia tied the score at 23 with a kill, the Britons won the next two points to send the match to a fourth set.

After dropping the first point of the stanza, CWRU went on a 10-1 run to lead by eight early in the fourth set. Albion scored the next two points, but the Spartans responded with three in a row to lead by nine. The teams split the next eight points, and a Briton error and Marfatia kill put Case Western Reserve up 19-8. A 7-4 Briton run after a timeout cut the Spartan lead to eight. CWRU finished with points on two of the final three serves to clinch the match and its 10th consecutive victory.

The Spartans will continue play at the invitational on Saturday, facing Wisconsin-Platteville at 1 p.m. followed by a matchup with the host Battling Bishops at 3:30 p.m.

Spartan Notes

• The team's 10-0 start matches its best opening to a season since the 2015 campaign when the team also began the year with a record of 10-0
• Marfatia recorded double-digit kills for the eighth time this season and double-digit digs for the seventh time in 2024
• Scott increased her career assist total to 981 as she looks to become the 15th player in program history to reach 1,000 career assists
• CWRU has limited opponents to a .109 hitting percentage this season, including keeping Albion to a .037 attacking percentage on Friday