#14 Tartans Split Action With Ithaca and Stevenson

(LANCASTER, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's volleyball team, ranked 14th in the lastest AVCA Coaches' Poll, traveled to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for the Franklin & Marshall College Scramble to face Ithaca College and Stevenson University Friday afternoon. Ithaca upended the Tartans, 3-2, before the Cardinal and Gray won a five-set match against Stevenson.

The Tartans fell 25-18 in the first set to Ithaca before knotting the match at 1-1 by reversing the set score in their favor. The Bombers then pulled out a 27-25 set three win and went on to win the fourth by a 25-21 score to record the 3-1 victory.

Junior Heather Holton (Haslett, Mich./Haslett) led the Tartans against the Bombers with 12 kills while sophomore Lauren Mueller (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown STEM Academy) tallied 11 kills. Senior Jackie Gibbons (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) hit .389 with eight kills, as junior Eliza Donohue (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) put down nine kills. For the match, senior setter Emily Newton (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Chadwick School) dished out 42 assists.

Defensively, Mueller led the team with 17 digs while senior Molly Higgins (Vero Beach, Fla./Vero Beach) and junior Hannah Wooten (Hughson, Calif./Hughson) each collected 14 digs. At the net, Donohue and sophomore Sarah Jurgens (Eagan, Minn./Eagan) each had three block assists while Donohue and Gibbons had two block solos apiece.

The team rallied against Stevenson, falling behind 2-1 with set scores of 21-25, 25-18 and 25-27. A 25-13 win in the fourth set evened the match and the Tartans went on to a 15-9 win in the fifth and deciding set.

Newton led the offense with 44 assists, as Mueller put down 13 kills and Holton 12. Donohue put down another nine kills and also had one block solo and four block assists. Similarly, Gibbons had one block solo and four block assists.

Higgins led the back line with 29 digs in the five-set match while Newton and Holton each had 12 digs and Wooten 11 digs.

The Tartans will continue action at the Franklin & Marshall Scramble on Saturday with a 10:00 a.m. match against Ohio Northern University and a 4:00 p.m. match against the home team.