Tartans Move to 6-0, Kelly Earns 450th Victory

(SWARTHMORE, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's volleyball team extended its winning streak to six games with a pair of victories on the final day of the Haverford/Swarthmore Tournament, defeating Haverford College and Cabrini College at Swarthmore. The Tartans are now 6-0 on the year.

The Tartans opened the day with a 3-0 win against Haverford (3-1) by winning 25-18, 25-10 and 25-15. The win marked head coach Kim Kelly's 450th career victory and 200th at Carnegie Mellon.

Freshman Lauren Mueller (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown SIEM Academy) led the offensive attack with 12 kills, hitting .500 for the match. Fellow freshman Sarah Jurgens (Eagan, Minn./Eagan) picked up nine kills while freshman Sydney Bauer (Allen, Texas/Allen) collected seven. Junior Emily Newton (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Chadwick School) assisted on 25 of the team's 38 kills and also had two service aces. Junior Molly Higgins (Vero Beach, Fla./Vero Beach) led with 10 digs while Bauer had eight digs.

In the second match, the Tartans posted a 3-1 victory against Cabrini (3-2), winning the first set 25-19, falling in the second 25-22, and winning the third and fourth by 25-16 scores.

Junior middle blocker Jackie Gibbons (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) hit .640 with 17 kills to lead the offense. Three others recorded double-digit kills in Mueller (11), Jurgens (11) and junior Casey Salandra (Carol Steam, Ill./St. Francis) (10). Newton collected a career-best 46 assists and another two service aces in the win.

Defensively, the Tartans recorded six block assists and one block solo with Gibbons leading with two assists. Higgins had 13 digs while Bauer had 11.

Carnegie Mellon will host its first match of the year on Wednesday, September 9 when Saint Vincent College visits Skibo Gymnasium at 7:00 p.m.