Tartans Open UAA Championship With Win

(WALTHAM, Mass.) - The Carnegie Mellon University volleyball team opened the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship with a 3-1 victory over New York University Friday afternoon at Brandeis University, winning its 24th game of the season and most since 2004. The team then faced No. 19 University of Chicago, falling 3-0, and will now play for third place on Saturday.

Against New York U. (25-9), the Tartans (24-8) came back from a first-set 25-19 loss to take the next three by scores of 25-20, 31-29 and 25-18. Freshman Jackie Gibbons (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) had seven kills and hit .417 while junior Ali Celentano (Mission Viejo, Calif./JSerra Catholic) had 13 kills and senior Senna Parsa (Bellevue, Wash./Newport) had 11 kills. Freshman Emily Newton (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Chadwick School) handed out 23 assists.

The Tartans forced NYU into 43 hitting errors and collected 27 blocks. Celentano had seven block assists as freshman Casey Salandra (Carol Steam, Ill./St. Francis) had six block assists with Gibbons chipping in with five block assists. Parsa was also tall at the net picking up four block solos.

Senior Ali Nichols (Portland, Ore./Jesuit) led the back row with 20 digs as sophomore Emily Lawlis (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands College Park) had 15 digs to go with 11 assists.

In the second match of the day, the Tartans (24-9) faced Chicago (25-10) with the chance to go to the championships match but were unlucky, falling 25-22, 25-11, 25-20. Parsa led the offense with 15 kills as Newton and Lawlis dished out 17 and 16 assists, respectively. Nichols picked up 21 digs while Parsa had 14 and Lawlis 11.

The Tartans will face eighth-ranked Washington University in the third-place match at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday at Brandeis.