HUNTINGDON, PA - Wesleyan volleyball went winless on Saturday in Pennsylvania, dropping neutral site matches to Carnegie Mellon and York (PA.). Against Carnegie Mellon, the Cardinals won the first two sets only to lose three in a row to the Tartans with scores of 25-18, 25-20, 17-25, 19-25, and 12-15. In the second game of the day, Wesleyan lost in four sets to York College.
After a string of losses, the Cardinals could not pull it together and lost with scores of 25-13, 23-25, 14-25, and 18-25. These two losses put Wesleyan at 14-5 overall with only one match left in the regular season. York College improves their record to 16-7 with this out of conference match, while Carnegie Mellon improves to 11-10
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CARNEGIE MELLON MATCH HIGHLIGHTS/ INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
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The Cardinals went run for run with the Tartans in the first set until 17-16 when Mariko Tanaka '24 had a 5 point service run putting Wesleyan up 23-16. Two kills from freshman Sydney Smith '25 finished set one with a score of 25-18
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Starting off strong in set two, the Cardinals got a 9-4 lead that was quickly closed as Carnegie Mellon tied to set 9-9. Setter Maya Lopansri '25 got Wesleyan another lead and pushed the team to win the set 25-20
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Despite the momentum of the first two sets, Wesleyan got stuck in a rut at 6-8 against the Tartans. The gap widened to 16-6, and the Cardinals could not recover. They lost the third set 17-25
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Wesleyan came out strong in the fourth set and kept the score close until two 4 point serving runs put Carnegie Mellon up 16-19 and 17-24 eventually winning the set 19-25
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While this Wesleyan volleyball team has done well in fifth sets throughout the season, they were not able to convert this long match to a win. They led the set until another serving run by the Tartans took them from 11-10 to 12-15 to finish the game
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Long matches mean high stats for the Cardinals. Sydney Smith '25 led the offense with 15 kills followed by Mariko Tanaka '24 and Brina Kuslak '22 with 11 kills and 10 kills respectively. Libero Jenna Otaola '22 defended the back court with 27 digs against the Tartans
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Leading the offense for Carnegie Mellon was Vivian Beaudoin, Anna Cao, and Jane Dean with 16 kills, 15 kills, and 11 kills respectively. Abby Chen and Anna Cao led the defense for the Tartans with 23 digs and 17 digs respectively
YORK (PA.) MATCH HIGHLIGHTS/ INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
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Set one started out tight until Maya Lopansri '25 had a 6 point service run to put the Cardinals ahead 15-8. This run was followed by another one, this time by libero Jenna Otaola '22 which catapulted the team ahead 24-10. The Cardinals won the set 25-13
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Wesleyan's strong start was cut short as the Spartans capitalized on attack errors on the Cardinal's side of the net. The Cardinals stayed in the set until the end but eventually lost 23-25
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Having gained momentum, York College came out strong on offense and got a lead of 19-10 over the Cardinals. Wesleyan was not able to get things going on their side of the net and lost the set 14-25
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Set four resulted in more of the same for Wesleyan. The Spartans got up 18-9, and the Cardinals could not recover and lost the set 18-25.
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Bella Ahearn '23 led the Cardinals offense with 12 kills followed by Brina Kuslak '22 and Sydney Smith '25 with 8 kills each. Ahearn was on the leaderboard for defense as well with 9 digs preceded by libero Jenna Otaola '22 and Maya Lopansri '25 with 21 digs and 10 digs respectively
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Leading the offense for the Tartans was Megan Rizzi with 20 kills, Tyler Williams with 14 kills, and Claire Shorb with 9 kills. Defending the back court for York College was Abby Diehl with 23 digs, Jasmine Dougin with 15 digs, and Megan Rizzi with 11 digs
UP NEXT:
Wesleyan has one more regular season game on the road next week on Thursday night against Trinity at 8:00 PM. Tune into the live stream and support the Cardinals
