Volleyball’s Comeback Stalls, Castleton Takes Match 3-2

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.— The MCLA Volleyball team welcomed the Vermont State University Castleton to the Amsler Campus Center Gymnasium this evening for a non-conference matchup. After dropping the first two sets, the Trailblazers stormed back to force a decisive fifth set before their comeback fell short, dropping the match to the Spartans 3-2.

THE BASICS:

• Date: Wednesday, September 11, 2024

• Score: VTSU-Castleton 3, MCLA 2
• Records: VTSU-Castleton 4-2 (Little East 0-0) | MCLA Trailblazers 0-6 (MASCAC 0-0)
• Series History: MCLA leads the all-time series 16-4, including a 3-1 win on September 13, 2023. The teams first met in 1975.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Castleton took the opening sets by scores of 25-10 and 25-19 before MCLA clawed their way back into the game by taking the third and fourth sets 25-19 and 25-23, forcing a fifth winner-take-all set. The Spartans closed out the match on a 10-0 run to salt away the victory.
• Chloie Garber (Eagle River, AK) finished with a team-high 11 kills for MCLA, while Hailey Martinovich had a game-high 17 kills for the Spartans. Alondra Rojas and Jocelyn Ray each added 12 kills for the visitors.
• Garber's 14 digs trailed only the 20-dig effort from Elizabeth Brown (Lee, MA) for the Trailblazers, while Castleton's Victoria Garcia led all players with 26 digs.

UP NEXT:

On Saturday, MCLA will be back in action when they travel to Norwich University for a non-conference tri-match with the Cadets and the Regis Pride at the Andrews Gym. The match with Regis is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start, with the Norwich match to follow at 3 p.m.