Tartans Top Two Opponents on Senior Day

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The 21st-ranked Carnegie Mellon University women's volleyball team hosted Elizabethtown College and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) on Saturday, October 22 in its final home date of the season. The Tartans defeated both squads by 3-0 scores to move their record to 22-5.

In the first match of the day, the Tartans defeated Elizabethtown by set scores of 25-11, 25-17, and 25-21. The Tartans hit .318 as a team with senior Jackie Gibbons (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) leading the squad with a .611 hitting percentage. Gibbons put down 11 kills with no errors. Sophomore Lauren Mueller (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown STEM Academy) had seven kills while senior Casey Salandra (Carol Steam, Ill./St. Francis) had four. Senior Emily Newton (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Chadwick School) picked up 28 assists with freshman Maia So-Holloway (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral) seeing some action at setter and collecting four assists. Senior libero Molly Higgins (Vero Beach, Fla./Vero Beach) led the team with 13 digs. Gibbons and senior Kristen Flint (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) had three and two block assists, respectively.

Against RIT, the Tartans won 25-18, 32-30, and 25-23. As a team they hit .248 and blocked 14 attack attempts by the Tigers. Mueller led with 11 kills while Gibbons put down 10. Newton collected 31 assists. At the net, senior Casey Salandra (Carol Stream, Ill./St. Francis) had two block solos and six blocks assists while Flint had five block assists. Junior Heather Holton (Haslett, Mich./Haslett) picked up two block solos and two block assists. In the back row, Higgins finished with 15 digs.

The Tartans will next face third-ranked Wittenberg University on Saturday, October 29 at 3:00 p.m. at Oberlin College. In September, the Tartans topped Wittenberg, 3-0, when they were ranked eighth in the nation.