Tartans Tested by Nations Best at UAA Round Robin

The Carnegie Mellon University volleyball team opened University Athletic Association (UAA) play on Saturday, September 29 and Sunday, September 30 on the road at the University of Chicago. Against two ranked opponents, the Tartans dropped three contests to fall to 10-12 overall and 0-3 in the UAA.

The team opened with a three-game loss to #14 Chicago by 25-14, 25-16, and 29-27 scores. Junior Olivia Mora (San Antonio, Texas/Saint Mary's Hall) hit .333 with six kills and had two block assists to lead the Tartans. Sophomore Ali Celentano (Mission Viejo, Calif./JSerra Catholic) picked up seven kills while junior Senna Parsa (Bellevue, Wash./Newport) had five kills and seven digs. Junior Emily Wright (Fairfax, Va./Chantilly) tallied 12 assists while freshman Emily Lawlis (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands College Park) had nine assists. Junior Ali Nichols (Portland, Ore./Jesuit) led the defense with 13 digs as Wright picked up nine.

The Tartans then faced #6 Emory University for their second game of the day, falling in three (25-10, 25-13, 25-18). The Tartans struggled offensively, hitting just .062 for the match while the Eagles hit .417 and defensively dug up 62 attempts by the Tartans. Celentano tallied 10 kills while Lawlis had 14 assists. Nichols led the Tartan defense with seven digs.

On Sunday the Tartans faced New York University in their final match of the first league round robin. Carnegie Mellon won the first set 25-18 before the Violets rebounded for 25-22, 25-15 and 25-17 wins. Parsa led the Tartans with 11 kills and 11 digs with two block assists while Celentano had eight kills and again hit over .200. Wright and Lawlis split the assists with 12 and 11, respectively while Nichols led with 21 digs.

The Tartans will have two weeks off from competition and will host the second league round robin on Saturday, October 13 and Sunday, October 14. Carnegie Mellon will open the weekend with a 10:30 a.m. match against University of Rochester.