On the verge of being swept by the University of Mount Union, the Case Western Reserve University volleyball team rallied to a thrilling five-set (23-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-9) victory on Wednesday night in front of a raucous crowd at Horsburgh Gymnasium in Cleveland.

The Spartans increased their season-opening winning streak to five matches, improving to 5-0 on the year, while the Purple Raiders fell to 3-2 in 2024.

Senior Rea Marfatia had a career day, setting a personal best with 25 kills and adding 15 digs and four total blocks. She was one of six Spartans who recorded at least 10 digs as the hosts limited Mount Union to a .130 hitting percentage in the contest. Senior Carly Scott paced CWRU with 21 digs and added 57 assists as the primary setter. First-year Sophia Datto (18), sophomore Emily Goodpaster (16), sophomore Sude Naz Item (12), and senior Maria Tuepker (10) all reached double digits in digs.

Offensively, senior Chloe Maciejewski put down 14 kills and junior Amanda Ngo had 12 kills. Scott had a team-high eight total blocks, Ngo added five blocks, and senior Lily Crouch recorded six to go along with six kills and four digs.

Needing to win the third set to keep the match alive, the Spartans won six of the first 10 points to take an early two-point lead. Mount Union quickly tied the score with a pair of kills and the teams traded the next eight points to make the score 10-10. The Purple Raiders captured four of the next five points, taking advantage of Spartan miscues to take a three-point lead, the largest of the set. CWRU responded by winning the next three points, tying the score on a kill by Ngo. After each team won two consecutive points, the foes traded the following six opportunities, leading to a 19-point tie. Each of the next three Spartan points were followed by UMU kills, keeping the score tied at 22. However, Maciejewski put the team ahead for good with a kill, Marfatia followed with a point of her own, and Scott ended the set with a solo block to send the teams to a fourth frame.

Mount Union started the fourth set strong, opening a four-point lead by winning nine of the first 14 rallies. Case Western Reserve responded, winning the next four points to tie the score at nine and keeping the score deadlocked whenever the Purple Raiders pulled ahead. Trailing 15-13, the Spartans won five of the next six points with Ngo scoring three times on a kill and two block assists to lead 18-16. The visitors tied the score at 18, and each team traded 4-0 runs to keep the set even at 22. Marfatia forced the decisive fifth set, putting down a pair of kills before ending the frame with a solo block.

With the fifth set tied at five, the Spartans started a 6-1 run to open a five-point lead, igniting the home crowd that had been silenced earlier in the night. The Purple Raiders cut their deficit to three, 12-9, but Ngo finished a kill, and back-to-back blocks by Crouch and Scott and Crouch and Marfatia completed the CWRU comeback.

Though the hosts trailed by as many as five points early in the opening stanza, they used a pair of runs to tie the score at 15 and 20. The Purple Raiders followed by claiming the next four points, but three consecutive Spartan points cut the deficit to two. However, Mount Union claimed the first set by the slimmest of margins with a kill on the final rally.

The Spartans led by six early in the second set, taking a 11-6 lead on a kill by Ngo. The visitors slowly cut into the deficit, eventually taking an 18-17 lead. Maciejewski knotted the score at 18, but UMU won five of the next seven points to lead by three. Down 24-21, a kill from junior Kalli Wall and a Purple Raider attacking error gave the Spartans an opportunity to extend the set. A service error put the hosts down by two sets in the match, leading to the three-set comeback.

The Case Western Reserve volleyball team will resume its five-match homestand on Friday evening, hosting Adrian College at 5 p.m. to begin the annual CWRU Quad. The Spartans will also play Allegheny on Saturday at 10 a.m. and Earlham at 12 p.m.

Match Notes

• The win was the fourth ever over Mount Union for CWRU and the second in last three seasons with other victories coming in 2010 and 2015
• Marfatia set a career high with 25 kills, surpassing her previous high of 22 set last season against Wooster
• Scott established new career-best marks in assists, digs, and total blocks with her 57 assists tied for seventh most in a single match in program history and the most since Lauren Gurd set the program record with 65 on September 17, 2013
• The 115 total digs by CWRU are the most for the team in a single match since the Spartans recorded 120 in a four-set loss to Earlham on September 4, 2021
• The Spartans totaled 19.0 blocks as a team, the fifth most in program history and most since they recorded 22.0 in a five-set win over Washington & Jefferson on October 23, 2004