CASTLETON, Vt. – Southern Vermont College was on the winning end of a five-set battle at Castleton State University Wednesday night as the visiting Mountaineers grabbed a 3-2 triumph in non-conference women's volleyball action at Glenbrook Gymnasium.
CSU (1-3) took the opening set 25-20 before Southern Vermont (1-3) tied the contest with a 25-19 upper hand in the second. Castleton went back in front with a 25-16 victory in the third, only to see the Mountaineers extend the match with a 25-18 win in the fourth frame. The final set was a back-and-forth battle, one that finished with SVC taking it 15-13 for the team's first win of the season.
Southern Vermont is next in action on Friday with the opening night of the Victory Promotions Invitational; the Mountaineers will take on Johnson State College at 6 p.m. before lining up with hosting St. Lawrence University at 8 p.m.
SVC senior captain Brin Goldman (St. Croix, Virgin Islands) tied the match-high of 13 kills, committing only three attacking errors on 36 swings (.278); she added 21 digs and four service aces to her night's line. Bennington College freshman Gaby Oropeza (Riverside, Calif.) followed defensively with another 18 digs while firing across six aces, and sophomore setter Michelle Urkevich (Troy, N.Y.) facilitated the offense with 28 assists that joined her three kills in the win; Urkevich also had eight digs for Southern Vermont.
Mountaineer sophomore Lizzy Bench (St. Petersburg, Fla.) had seven kills, five digs and three aces as freshman Sarah Billow (South Glens Falls, N.Y.) recorded six kills, five digs and four service aces. Junior Julia Florence (Salem, Mass.) chipped in with three kills, and freshman Tay Phillips (Stephentown, N.Y.) notched six kills and five digs on the evening.
Neither team was especially efficient on the attack, Southern Vermont registering a .144 hitting percentage to the Spartans' .082. Both teams had 38 kills in the clash as Castleton took a 63-62 edge in the digs column.
Castleton jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the early-going of the contest and then rallied off four straight points to go up by five. Southern Vermont took to a 4-1 spurt later in the set to get within three, Goldman putting down back-to-back kills before Phillips made it a 20-17 game with a shot of her own. The Spartans got the next three, only for the Mountaineers to get them all back to stay in it. Those would be the last SVC points of the frame, however, as the hosts finished it off with the last two.
The Mountaineers won five out of six in the beginning of the second game with the help of three CSU attack errors and a Bench kill. Castleton stormed back with the next five straight to regain the upper hand, but SVC then went on a 6-1 run started by a kill and an ace by Goldman. After she put the visitors on top 19-14, the Spartans tied it up with six out of the next seven. Castleton mishaps, however, pushed the Mountaineers over the edge to take the set and even up the match.
Five consecutive Spartan points put them up 6-3 in the onset of the third, but back-to-back Goldman aces helped SVC notch four straight and tie it at 10 apiece. The back-and-forth continued with the momentum swapping sides every few points, CSU eventually going in front 20-14 after chalking up six in-a-row. After Southern Vermont cut it down to a three-point deficit with a pair of kills, Castleton closed out the frame for the 2-1 lead on the night.
Kills by Florence and Goldman were accompanied by aces from Bench and Oropeza shortly into the fourth as the Mountaineers went up 5-1 early on. The Spartans surged to an 11-7 lead with 10 points in a 12-serve stretch, and they would later go ahead 16-9 after five consecutive points. The tides quickly turned, however, as SVC went on an 11-1 run aided by seven kills—three by Goldman and two by both Phillips and Billow. A service error made it a 20-18 Southern Vermont advantage, but the Mountaineers were able to finish off the set victory to push the match to the decisive fifth.
Oropeza ripped two straight aces from behind the line for a 4-1 edge in the final frame, and a Billow ace then put her team up by four. Bench and Urkevich teamed up for back-to-back kills for a 9-3 SVC upper hand, putting the Spartans on the ropes with the win in sight for Southern Vermont. Castleton fought back, recording five straight points to get within one. The hosts continued their momentum through a Florence kill, scoring three out of four points to go up 12-11. Bench landed an ace to put Southern Vermont up by one, but a ball handling error by the Mountaineers evened things at 13-13. CSU gave one back on a service error, and Oropeza then put the nail in the coffin with her sixth and final ace for SVC to celebrate the tight victory.
– #LetsGoSVC –