The Case Western Reserve University volleyball team (9-16) lost a pair of matches on Saturday afternoon at Horsburgh Gymnasium in Cleveland, falling in three sets to William Smith (17-5) and four sets to 11th-ranked Calvin (21-3).

Stats and Standouts

• First-year Maya Zarow had double-digit kills in both contests, totaling 19 against the Knights and 13 against the Herons
• Junior Madeline Halter added 19 kills across the two matches
• Junior Elena Esquivel totaled a team-high 37 assists with first-year Piper Starling adding 29 helpers, including 24 against the Knights
• Sophomore Thea Beran paced the squad with 24 digs with Esquivel adding 16 and Zarow contributing 10 against Calvin

William Smith 3, CWRU 0 (24-26, 20-25, 21-25)

First Set (24-26)

• After losing the opening point, CWRU won nine of the next 11 rallies to take a 9-3 lead
• The Herons cut the deficit to tow, 11-9, before a kill by junior Sienna Olson and a William Smith attacking error doubled the Spartan lead
• The hosts increased their edge to six, 20-14, on a service ace by junior Avery Basinger
• The visitors fought back, narrowing the gap to two with a 6-2 run
• After Zarow put down a kill to make the score 23-20, William Smith won four points in a row to serve for the set
• Zarow tied the score at 24 with a kill, but a Heron kill and Spartan attacking error gave the visitors the opening stanza

Second Set (20-25)

• CWRU kept the score close early in the second period, trailing by as many as four points before William Smith won three points in a row to double their lead
• Down 17-11, the Spartans won four consecutive points, getting kills from Halter and junior Colleen Nudd and a service ace by first-year Sophie Bell to cut the deficit to two
• That would be the closest Case Western Reserve would get to tying the score as William Smith won the next five rallies to take a seven-point edge and later claim the set

Third Set (21-25)

• Bell aced a serve to cap a 4-1 Spartan run, tying the score in the set at seven
• William Smith responded with a 6-2 run to take a four-point edge
• The Spartans cut the deficit to one, 16-15, on a bad set by the Herons
• William Smith built on their lead, scoring six of the next nine points to gain a 22-18 advantage
• First-year Maia Khetani put down a kill, and the Herons committed a pair of errors, making the score 22-21
• The visitors had two kills in a row and won the match on a Spartan attacking error

#11 Calvin 3, CWRU 1 (16-25, 25-22, 23-25, 27-29)

First Set (16-25)

• Leading 8-6, Calvin scored seven of the next 10 points to take a six-point lead in the opening frame
• After a service error by the Knights, Zarow recorded back-to-back service aces to cut the deficit to three
• The Knights won the next two points, and after a Halter kill, used a 5-0 run to take a nine-point advantage
• The Spartans fought off a set point, but a kill ended the stanza in favor of the visitors at 25-16

Second Set (25-22)

• CWRU tied the score in the second stanza at seven, eight, and nine before taking a 12-10 lead on back-to-back kills by Olson
• Calvin won the next three rallies to take the lead, and the two teams traded the advantage over the next four points
• With the score tied at 16, senior Katie Yanni put down a kill, Beran aced a serve, and sophomore Kate Williams blocked an attack to put the Spartans ahead by three
• Calvin cut the edge to one, 20-19, before Olson had a pair of kills
• The Knights fought off a set point attempt before Halter finished the period with a kill, evening the match score at one

Third Set (23-25)

• With the score tied at six early in the pivotal third set, Williams had a pair of kills and Starling had a service ace in a 4-0 run
• Trailing by three at 14-11, the Knights scored four times in a row to claim the lead, and after a blocking error tied the score at 15, had two kills to go ahead by two
• Halter had a kill and Beran aced a serve, quickly tying the score at 17
• Calvin won five of the following six points to gain a 22-18 advantage
• CWRU countered with a 5-2 run of its own, fighting off a pair of set point attempts and serving to tie the score at 24
• However, the Knights buried a kill to gain the lead in the match

Fourth Set (27-29)

• With Calvin leading 7-5, the teams traded the next 10 points
• Halter tied the score at 12 with back-to-back kills before an attacking error gave the Spartans the lead
• Zarow doubled the advantage with a kill
• The teams again went back-and-forth over the next six points
• A kill by Zarow made the score 18-15
• Calvin responded with a 5-2 to tie the score, and the Knights evened the score at 21 and 22 following Spartan points
• As CWRU trailed 23-22, Williams and Khetani had two kills in a row to give the Spartans the chance to serve for set and send the match to a fifth stanza
• The visitors evened the score at 24 instead before Yanni put down a kill to give CWRU a second attempt
• Calvin again thwarted the effort and followed with a second kill to serve for the match
• Khetani evened the score at 26 and Zarow kept the match alive with a kill two points later, tying the score at 27
• The visitors won the next two points to secure the set and stop the upset bid

Spartan Notes

• The meeting was the first ever between the Spartans and Herons on the volleyball court
• CWRU fell to 0-5 against Calvin since 2002. This was the first match between the schools not played at a neutral site in that time
• Case Western Reserve has faced seven opponents who were ranked in the national top 25 at the time of the match
• Zarow finished the day with exactly 300 kills in 2026. She has at least 10 kills in 18 of the team's 24 matches and has recorded four double doubles this year, including against Calvin
• Halter had her sixth match with double-digit kills this year against William Smith
• Beran matched a career high with 15 digs against Calvin

Up Next

CWRU will continue its four-match homestand with a visit from Bethany College on Wednesday, November 4. Action is slated to begin at 7 p.m.