The 21st-ranked Case Western Reserve University volleyball team pushed seventh-ranked Emory University to the limit on Sunday afternoon on the final day of the first University Athletic Association Round Robin, hosted by New York University at the John A. Paulson Center in Manhattan, New York. However, CWRU lost in five sets, 14-25, 23-25, 26-24, 25-22, 10-15.

The Spartans fell to 15-2 on the season, with both losses coming to teams ranked in the top 20 of the AVCA national poll, and 2-1 in UAA contests. The Eagles improved to 14-1 overall and 3-0 in UAA play. Emory is tied for first in the conference standings with Carnegie Mellon, while Case Western Reserve is tied for third with Chicago.

CWRU was led offensively by senior Rea Marfatia and junior Amanda Ngo, who each recorded 14 kills in the match, and setters Carly Scott and Avery Basinger, who totaled 24 assists each. First-year libero Sophia Datto dug out a team-high 25 attacks with Basinger (14), Marfatia (14), and Scott (12) each reaching double digits in digs. Senior Lily Crouch totaled six blocks and the net, and Scott and Ngo added five blocks per player.

Leading 6-3 in the stanza and 2-0 in the match, Emory used a 6-1 run to take an eight-point lead in the third set. The Spartans won the next four points to half their deficit and followed with a 5-3 run to make the score 15-13. Four different CWRU attackers had kills during the 9-3 run, and the Eagles committed four attacking errors. Emory won five of the next seven rallies to take a five-point lead and later held a 23-18 advantage. The Spartans claimed the next four points to cut their deficit to one, but an Emory kill put the Eagles one point away from winning the match. A kill by Marfatia kept CWRU alive and an Emory attacking error evened the score. Marfatia followed with another kill, and Crouch ended the set by putting down a kill, sending the match to a fourth period.

Case Western Reserve held an early four-point advantage in the fourth set, leading 12-8. Emory eventually tied the score at 16 and took leads of 18-17 and 19-18. Kills from Marfatia and Crouch pushed CWRU ahead by two, but the Eagles tied the score at 21 with back-to-back points. After a timeout, the Spartans won the next three rallies to come within a point of winning the set. Emory kept the set going with a kill, but senior Chloe Maciejewski recorded her ninth kill of the afternoon to force a fifth set.  

The Spartans and Eagles traded pairs of 2-0 runs to begin the decisive fifth set. After splitting the next six rallies, Emory won the following four points to take an 11-7 lead. Following their final timeout of the match, Ngo recorded a kill and senior Jolie Held aced a serve to bring Case Western Reserve within two. Held was not fazed by an Eagle timeout, acing her next serve to make the score 11-10. Emory was able to receive the following serve and blocked a Spartan attack to increase its lead to two. The Eagles claimed the final three points of the set to claim the match and prevent a historic Spartan upset.

Earlier in the match, CWRU trailed 10-8 in the second set, but the Spartans used a 5-1 run to take a two-point lead. Ngo had a pair of kills and two blocks during the sequence. Emory tied the score at 14, 15, and 16 before claiming an 18-16 advantage with a kill and service ace. After a timeout, the teams split the following six rallies, leading to an Emory lead of 21-19. A 4-0 CWRU run put the Spartans ahead 23-21 as two kills by Marfatia and one from Crouch forced the Eagles to use both their timeouts. Emory responded winning the final four points of the set to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Spartans trailed by two, 7-5, early in the first set. The Eagles won six of the next seven points to open a seven-point lead. Case Western Reserve could only cut its deficit to six for the remainder of the stanza, dropping the first set 25-14.

The Spartans will resume non-conference play on Wednesday, traveling to Oberlin, Ohio, to face Oberlin College at 7 p.m.

Spartan Notes

• The Spartans, who upset eighth-ranked WashU yesterday, were ranked 21st in the AVCA Division III Top 25 Poll for the second consecutive week, the first time the team placed in the top 25 multiple times in one season
• Ngo totaled 48 kills (3.43 per set) and 11 blocks (0.79 per set) in 14 sets for the Spartans leading the team in both categories
• Marfatia recorded at least 10 kills and 10 digs in a match for the eighth time this season. She is now 29 kills shy of 1,000 for her career
• Datto's 25 digs marked season and career highs. She paced the squad with 57 digs (4.07 per set) at the round robin
• CWRU was looking for its first win over Emory since September 26, 1992