Box Score Philadelphia, Pa. - (11/12/2015) – The Chestnut Hill College women's volleyball team's postseason quest went to the bitter end. One point away from forcing a winner-take-all fifth set to decide tonight's play-in slugfest with Holy Family University, the Griffins came up just short. The Tigers clawed their way into the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Championship Tournament with a closing three-point run, clinching the fourth and final bid from the South Division with a 3-1 (16-25, 25-17, 25-16, 26-24) verdict inside an electric Sorgenti Arena, closing the books on Chestnut Hill College's season.
 
Bolstered by a packed house on Senior Night, Chestnut Hill College (11-21, 10-9) started the proceedings by overpowering Holy Family University (12-18, 11-8) with one of its finest sets of the season. The Griffins notched kills on six of their first nine attempts, half of them at the hands of senior outside hitter Rachel Biro (Nazareth, Pa.), to open up an 11-5 advantage. The Tigers slowly climbed back into it, getting as close as 16-15, but a kill by junior outside hitter Madison McBride (Long Beach, Calif.) catalyzed a 7-0 run that left the visitors chasing the rest of the way to a 25-16 decision. The Scarlet and Gold hit .387 (14K-2E-31TA) in the opening frame.
 
Holy Family University roared back, however, pulling away from a 12-all deadlock to take the second set by a 25-17 count, and consolidated the momentum with a 25-16 score in the third set. That's when the drama reached a crescendo.
 
Chestnut Hill College led by as many as six (11-5) in the fourth set, and still outpaced the Tigers by an 18-14 spread after a bad set. But Holy Family University responded with a 6-2 run to pull even at 20-apiece, and forced the home side into a timeout by capturing the next two points. The stoppage produced its intended effect for the Griffins, who immediately surged ahead when a kill by junior middle hitter Emily Koehler (Bath, Pa.) preceded back-to-back Tiger errors, 23-22. The two sides traded errors, putting Chestnut Hill College in front, 24-23, and on the brink of forcing a deciding fifth set. Unfortunately, senior right side Rachel Johnson (New Lenox, Ill.) staved off the set point with a kill, and freshman outside hitter Jaime Bonner (Warminster, Pa.) sent the Tigers into the playoffs with consecutive kills of her own, 26-24.
 
Freshman outside hitter Chase Wassel (North Wales, Pa.) racked up 14 kills and 18 digs for Holy Family University, which will head to North Division champion Post University in Saturday's opening round. Senior Emma Herring (Newtown, Conn.) collected 13 kills, Johnson added nine kills and 13 digs, and freshman setter Natalie Stewart (York, Pa.) supplemented a game-high 36 assists with 14 digs.
 
Koehler was a force for Chestnut Hill College, registering a team-high 10 kills without an error on just 15 attempts (.667) to go with six block assists, giving her a single-season school record of 66 assisted blocks. Biro added 10 kills and five digs in her final appearance in scarlet and gold, finishing her decorated career with 1,194 kills to leave as the program's all-time leader. McBride offered six kills and 15 digs, with freshman setter Kennedy Sutton (Chesapeake, Va.) posting 17 assists and 11 digs for a double-double. Junior libero Regina Trabosh (Norristown, Pa.) hustled to 20 digs, breaking her own program record with 664 for the season.
 
Senior setter Alyssa Tamsing (Ventura, Calif.) handed out 17 assists and notched seven digs in her final game. She was honored alongside Biro, outside hitters Justine Ganan (San Diego, Calif.) and Francesca Lynn Faillace (Philadelphia, Pa.), and defensive specialists Meghan Chiovitti (Brighton, Colo.) and Deanna Bianchini (Blue Bell, Pa.).
 
Chestnut Hill College concludes the 2015 season with a record of 11-21 and a 10-9 conference mark, good for the most CACC triumphs in school history.