PITTSBURGH – The Case Western Reserve University volleyball team wrapped up the season with a 3-1 victory versus the University of Rochester (N.Y.) in the 2014 University Athletic Association Championship fifth-place match on Saturday morning at Skibo Gymnasium.
CWRU ends 2014 at 18-12 for its sixth winning season in seven years. Rochester's season concludes at 17-19.
The Spartans were victorious by scores of 25-21, 24-26, 25-22 and 25-17.
The opening set was tied at 11 before CWRU rattled off a 9-3 run to seize control. The second was back-and-forth the entire way with Rochester winning the final two to even the match. The Spartans then controlled the pace in the third and fourth.
Three Spartans finished with double-figure kills led by sophomore right side hitter Marian Barton (Custer Park, Ill./Reed-Custer) and junior outside hitter Carolyn Bogart (New Berlin, Wis./New Berlin Eisenhower) with 11 each. Sophomore middle hitter Kayla Pfaff (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) added 10.
Sophomore Lauren Gurd (Farmington Hills, Mich./Detroit Country Day) and freshman Jessica Justice (St. Augustine, Fla./St. Augustine) split the setting duties with 22 assists apiece.
Defensively, specialist Kristen Mitchell (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) posted a team-best 15 digs.
Rochester was led by Jennie Ford with 16 kills and Xiaoyi Li with 50 assists.
For the season, Barton led CWRU with 182 kills while Pfaff was a close second at 181. Justice was tops in assists at 396. Junior outside hitter Katie Best (Sewickley, Pa./North Allegheny) posted the top digs total (354), and Pfaff was the leader in total blocks (76).