WOOSTER, Ohio – Despite a narrow five-set loss in their first match of the day, the Capital University volleyball team rebounded with a strong offensive showing to defeat Westminster in the nightcap.
The first match went in favor of Chatham 3-2, while Capital took the second match 3-1.
With the split decision on the day, the Comets are now 4-7 on the season.
MATCH ONE: Chatham wins 3-2 (25-17, 22-25, 24-26, 25-23, 15-13)
In a truly back-and-forth affair, the Comets were upended 3-2 by Chatham in the first of two matches on the day. Despite a spirited effort by the Comets, the dominant play from Chatham's Alyssa Leskovac. The all-around play from Leskovac yielded 28 kills, 23 digs, four aces, and a blistering .304 attack percentage.
Even with a game for the ages coming from the other side, Cap didn't waiver and battled well enough to give themselves a chance to win it late on. Cap's strong offense was buoyed forward by
Lindsay Rich's 16 kills and
Alissa Holler's 13 putaways. These two led a contingent of Comet hitters to 53 kills guided off 23 assists from
Reagan Willoughby and 19 from
Jordyn Hoffman.
Defensively, the Comets scooped up 100 digs as a team, with five players reaching the double digit mark. Willoughby had a 20-20 game, adding a team-high 22 digs to her aforementioned 23 assists. Her 22 digs marked a new career high for Willoughby.
Paree Furness scooped up 18 digs.
Abby Brunner chipped in 17 digs.
Lindsay Rich finished off an even 16 digs to pair with her 16 kills. Rich's 16 kills tied her career high in the defensive category as well.
Jordyn Hoffman rounded it out with 14 digs.
At the net, the Comets proved dangerous, combining for seven total blocks.
Caleigh Hamby once again led the team in this category with five swats, while
Audrey James was just behind with four blocks.
At the service line,
Paree Furness led the team with three aces, while Willoughby, Rich and
Larissa Smith each had two aces each.
MATCH TWO: Capital wins 3-1 (25-21, 24-26, 25-21, 25-21)
The second match saw Capital attack at a brilliant clip, particularly early on, leading them to a solid 3-1 win over Westminster. In the first set, Capital hit an astonishing 21 kills on just 34 attack attempts – a phenomenal .412 attack percentage. After that, the success rate tapered off, but Capital still managed to hit at least 14 kills in each of the remaining sets to keep the offense moving.
Individually, four Comets attacked at a above .200 success rate –
Larissa Smith (12 kills, .579),
Ryann Bunyak (14 kills, .333),
Lindsay Rich (16 kills, .243), and
Caleigh Hamby (10 kills, .222). Both
Larissa Smith and
Ryann Bunyak hit new career-highs in number of kills in the match.
The solid offensive hitting percentage came to no surprise as both
Reagan Willoughby and
Jordyn Hoffman had the offense humming. The duo nearly split the assists 50/50, as Willoughby dished out 28 helpers and Hoffman set up 27 points.
In addition to the attack, the Comets got six points off service aces – two from both
Lindsay Rich and
Jordyn Hoffman, and one each from
Reagan Willoughby and
Abby Brunner.
On the defensive side of the game,
Abby Brunner led the back row with 21 digs – her third 20+ digs performance of her young career.
Jordyn Hoffman was the lone other Comet to hit double-digit digs with 12.
At the net,
Caleigh Hamby continued to show her prowess at the block as she was in on five blocks – giving her 10 in today's games and 34 through 11 matches so far.
UP NEXT
The Comets will have a quick turnaround as they return to Wooster tomorrow morning to battle with Pitt-Bradford and then the hosts in Wooster. The first match is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and the second is slated for 2:30 p.m. Note: due to other events taking place on Wooster's campus tomorrow, neither match will have live stats, but the Wooster game will have a video feed. Stats will be uploaded to athletics.capital.edu as soon as possible.
