#9 Tartans Take Down #20 Chicago to Finish Third at UAA Championship

(ATLANTA, Ga.) - The ninth-ranked Carnegie Mellon University volleyball team defeated No. 20 University of Chicago in the third-place match of the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship 3-1 on Saturday morning at the Woodruff PE Center on the campus Emory University. With the win, the Tartans improve to 29-4 overall while the Maroons are now 23-8.

Carnegie Mellon won the first two sets by the scores of 25-22 and 26-24 before Chicago took set three 25-15. In the fourth set, one in which the Tartans won 25-16, the score was tied at 9-9 before Carnegie Mellon took eight of the next nine points to grab a 17-10 lead and went on for the nine-point victory. During the stretch, sophomore setter Maia So-Holloway (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral) recorded three of her four service aces.

The Tartans had two players with double digit kills, as juniors Sarah Jurgens (Eagan, Minn.) and Lauren Mueller (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown STEM Academy) each tabbed 14. Jurgens hit .353 while Mueller hit .250. So-Holloway and senior Amanda Thiele (Lakeland, Fla./George Jenkins) totaled 38 of the Tartans 48 assists. So-Holloway handed out 22 and Thiele 16.

Sophomore Kayla Yew (San Francisco, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral) continued her double-digit dig streak with 17 digs, as her streak is now at 39 dating back to last season. Mueller recorded 13 digs in the win. At the net, Jurgens and sophomore Sahara Aqui (Miramar, Fla./Archbishop McCarthy) each had three block assists while senior Eliza Donohue (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) tabbed two block solos and two block assists.

The Tartans finish the regular season tied with the most wins, 29, under 13-year head coach Kim Kelly and will wait to see if they receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament on Monday, November 6. The selection show will be at 12:30 p.m.