Tartans Advance to NCAA Regional Final with a Five-Set Win Over RIT

(ITHACA, N.Y.) - The Carnegie Mellon University volleyball team competed in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship and came from behind to defeat Rochester Institute of Technology in a five-set thriller on Saturday. The three-day regional event is being played at Ithaca College. With the win, the Tartans advance to the regional final match for the first time in school history. Carnegie Mellon improves to 24-10 overall while RIT ends its season with a mark of 29-5.

The Cardinal and Gray took the first set 25-16 before dropping sets two and three by the scores of 25-22 and 25-23. The Tartans then forced a fifth set with a 25-16 win in the fourth and finished off the Tigers 15-12 in the deciding set.

For the second straight match, senior Sarah Jurgens (Eagan, Minn. / Eagan) led with 23 kills while hitting .452. Senior Lauren Mueller (Downingtown, Pa. / Downingtown STEM Academy) tabbed 16 kills and junior Erika Foose (Allentown, Pa. / Parkland) tallied nine. Junior setter Maia So-Holloway (Oakland, Calif. / Sacred Heart Cathedral) handed out 52 assists.

Mueller and So-Holloway both recorded double-doubles, as the two both added 13 digs. Junior Kayla Yew (San Francisco, Calif. / Sacred Heart Cathedral) led the defense with 25 digs while senior Sydney Bauer (Allen, Texas / Allen) had 11 digs. At the net, junior Sahara Aqui (Miramar, Fla. / Archbishop McCarthy) had five block assists and Jurgens had three.

The Tartans will next face the winner of Ithaca (19-7) and Stevenson University (25-7) on Sunday, November 11 in the regional finals of the NCAA tournament at 2:00 p.m.

Post match interview