BENNINGTON, Vt. — The Southern Vermont College women's volleyball team fell 3-1 Tuesday night to the hands of visiting Castleton University in non-conference action at the Mountaineer Athletic Center.
The Spartans won the first set 25-22 before SVC bounced back with a 25-16 triumph in the second. Castleton was able to close out the match strongly, winning the third and fourth frames by 25-12 and 25-15 margins, respectively.
The Mountaineers (2-13) are next in action on Sunday with a 12 p.m. New England Collegiate Conference first serve at Lesley University while Castleton (12-7) heads to Green Mountain College on Saturday for a North Atlantic Conference tri-match; the Spartans will line up with GMC at 9 a.m. before taking on Colby-Sawyer College at 11 a.m.
Castleton is now 8-4 all-time against Southern Vermont after taking both matches in the home-and-away series this season.
Mountaineer junior captain Brin Goldman (Christiansted, Virgin Islands) led all players with 16 kills on the night, adding 16 digs to tie the team-high. Freshman Alycia Stevens (Hudson Falls, N.Y.) had another 16 digs to go with her nine kills and five service aces while classmate Lizzy Bench (Saint Petersburg, Fla.) had 11 digs and four kills. Senior setter Sheilani Kaleopa (Riverside, Calif.) facilitated the SVC offense, assisting on 25 of the 32 Mountaineer kills; she also added 11 digs and three service aces to her night's line.
The Spartans were led by 13 kills from senior Amanda Chambers (Lake George, N.Y.), and she also chipped in defensively with 13 digs; Chambers didn't have a single hitting error as she tallied a .419 attack percentage on 31 swings. Junior Brittany Brayman (Hartford, N.Y.) had a well-rounded night, registering match-highs of 28 digs and six service aces while adding six kills. Junior Alex Madsen (Averill Park, N.Y.) was sidelined through the first two sets but then came in to be the primary setter for Castleton, racking up 22 assists and six digs in the final two games. Junior Cassidy Tedeschi (Pascoag, R.I.) was on Chambers' heels with 12 kills and nine digs in the win, and junior J'Leen Diaz (West Hartford, Conn.) provided another 14 digs for the visitors.
Goldman put down three quick kills in the onset of the contest to put SVC up 5-1 early in the first. A Chambers kill gave the service back to the Spartans, allowing Brayman to serve for six straight points during a 9-1 Castleton run; she had one ace in that stretch while Chambers added another two kills. The teams traded points with the Spartans maintaining a four-point separation until they took seven of nine behind kills from three players. Down 21-12, Southern Vermont fought back to close the gap late in the stanza. Goldman put down a pair of kills while Bench and Stevens provided another one each, making way for the Mountaineers to pull back within four (23-19). Two straight kills from Goldman helped SVC score three unanswered points to trail by just a pair, but a Southern Vermont attack error gave Castleton the final point needed to take the set.
Once again, SVC took an early frame lead at the hosts went up 4-1 with an ace and then a kill from Stevens. The Spartans took to a 7-2 run to grab the upper hand, only to see the Mountaineers score seven of eight with the help of three Stevens kills to regain the advantage. Tedeschi notched a kill for the first of three straight points that cut the deficit to one, but Southern Vermont rattled off five consecutive points with three in-a-row being Stevens service aces. Castleton notched a few more through the end of the set, but the Mountaineers' cushion was too much to overcome as Goldman added a late kill and ace to propel her team to the 25-16 match equalizer.
With a new starting lineup for the third straight game, Castleton stormed out to a big lead. Tedeschi registered three kills while senior Kaylee Pratt (Hampton, N.Y.) added another two for their team to pull in front by a 15-3 tally. The Spartans took to a 5-1 run with two points coming on Chambers kills, but SVC then rolled off four straight to slow the Castleton momentum. It was only momentary, however, as a kill and an ace gave the visitors a 23-9 upper hand. After winning the next three points, Southern Vermont committed a pair of errors for the Spartans to go up in the match with the third set victory.
Neither side could pull away in the fourth until Castleton scored seven unanswered points, the last five all being kills for a 12-6 edge. Service was traded midway through the set before the Spartans sandwiched an SVC timeout with a 5-0 run to go up by 10. A Stevens kill was the first of three straight points for Southern Vermont, but Castleton used two kills from both Chambers and Pratt to close out the night on a 5-2 spurt.