MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Friday night's highly-anticipated battle of the unbeatens certainly lived up to the billing as the Wesleyan volleyball team knocked off No. 13 ranked Colby in a four-set thriller (25-20, 16-25, 25-22, 30-28) in Silloway Gym. With the win, Wesleyan improves to 7-0 while handing the Mules (9-1) their first defeat of 2025.
 
In what was the NESCAC opener for both teams, the quality and intensity was never in doubt, giving this match the feel of a playoff game. Wesleyan used a 6-1 run to create some separation in the first set and never looked back, leading for the remainder of the frame before closing out a 25-20 first set win on what was Siena Steines' '28 eighth kill of the set.
 
Colby answered right back with a dominant showing in the second set, recording 19 kills with just three errors on 44 swings, bring the match level at one set apiece following a 25-16 triumph.
 
The Mules looked to be in full control in the middle stages of the third set. Not long after the Mules took a timeout when trailing 11-8, Colby rattled off six straight unanswered points to lead 16-13. Searching for an answer to the Colby rally, Wesleyan won four of the next five points to tie the score. Back and forth the teams went for a few points before the Cardinals won three straight to take a 22-20 lead. Looking to close out the set, a crucial Colby service error set up set point and it was Sophia Lindus '26 who came up with the set-clinching kill.
 
The fourth set was full of drama as the match swayed in the balance. Both sides had 3-0 and 4-0 runs in the early stages of the set and then once Colby tied the score at 10-10, neither team led by more than two points for the remainder of the frame. Consecutive attack errors forced Wesleyan into a timeout at 19-18 Colby and then the Mules took a timeout after a Lindus kill made it 21-20 Cardinals. The set went into extra points after Wesleyan couldn't convert a match point and back-and-forth the two sides went with the Cardinals having to stave off two Colby set points.
 
With the score tied 27-27, Katelyn Olin '27 stepped into a leading role as the middle lofted a kill over the Colby block and one point later, recorded another kill to set up what was the fourth match point for Wesleyan. On that point, a long rally ultimately came to an end when LJ Grant was blocked at the net by Olin to send a boisterous crowd into a frenzy.
 
In that deciding fourth set, Wesleyan forced Colby into 10 attack errors while getting three blocks from Olin. The junior middle finished with a career-high six kills and three blocks, all of which came in the final two sets combined.
 
 Steines recorded a career-high 16 kills to go along with 14 digs, giving her fourth double-doubles through seven matches this season. Lindus finished with 14 kills and 11 digs in her return to Silloway.
 
The setter duo of Ali Landa '26 and Alexa Schnell '29 impressed as Landa recorded 20 assists and a career-high 20 digs while Schnell posted 15 assists, career-high 13 digs, and two kills.
 
Elliana Moreno '27 added 15 digs to give the Cardinals five players with double-digit dig totals. As a team, Wesleyan finished with 83 digs in the four-set match, 10 more than Colby's total of 73 for the match.
 
The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday at 2 PM with a NESCAC showdown with Bowdoin in Silloway.