A thrilling match kicked off the Central Atlantic collegiate conference women's volleyball tournament Semi-finals Saturday afternoon as the #2 seed from the south Division Chestnut Hill college took on the #1 Seed from the north University of Bridgeport.  The Griffins and Purple knights did not disappoint the crowd, but it was Bridgeport who came out on top 3-1 to advance to Sunday's championship match.
The Griffins finish their season at 14-14, tying the school record for wins in a single season.  Bridgeport improves to 25-7.
Chestnut Hill dropped the first set 26-24 and then held on to win the second 25-20.  A back and forth game in the third set saw the Purple knights come out on top 28-26 before they pulled away to win the final set 25-21.

The match featured the league's top offensive team in Bridgeport, taking on the league's top defensive team, Chestnut Hill.  Individually, the match featured two of the league's best setters:  CHC's Mia Caporellie (2022 Setter of the Year and All-CACC honoree this year) and UB's Jaden Drollinger (2023 Setter of the Year and all-CACC honoree in 2002).  The match also featured the only two hitters in the league that recorded 300+ kills on the season and 300+ digs, Chestnut Hill's Erika Dubosky and Rachel Mace.
Dubosky finished the match leading all players with 19 kills while also recording a team high 23 digs. The junior outside hitter also led all players with a game-high five aces.  Mace had 14 kills while recording 20 digs on the afternoon.

Caporellie recorded 49 assists on the afternoon, bringing her season total to 1,001, the second consecutive season she has reached 1,000 assists for the year. She also added three aces and 12 digs.

Defensively Angela April had a career high eight blocks to go along with her eight kills.  Cha'kya Johnson had four.  Natalie Albin joined Caporellie, Dubosky and Mace in reaching double figures for digs with 14.  Torrin Kelley added eight digs for the match.

The Griffins trailed by three on two occasions in the first set but came back to take a 24-22 lead and were serving for the set.  Bridgeport secured the kill and then scored the next three points to earn the 26-24 win.

Chestnut Hill opened a 13-4 lead early in the second set with an 11-0 run as Dubosky served up four aces and a kill while the Griffins' defense blocked five UB attacks with April involved in all five blocks, Johnson in three and Mace in two.  The Purple Knights slowly chipped away at the lead closing to 21-19.  Two aces from Chloe Mettille and kills from Maya Hopson and Caporellie then sealed the win.

Sixteen ties and eight lead changes highlighted a back-and-forth third set with the Griffins again having a chance to win the set at the end.  Mace's kill gave CHC a 25-24 lead only to have UB come back and score the next two points and take a 26-25 lead and serve for the set.  Mace tied the score at 26-26 with a kill before the Purple knights dropped two straight kills on the Griffins to win the set 28-26.

Bridgeport held a 14-9 advantage in the fourth set and later in the set led 20-15 before the Griffins started to chip away.  Kills from Dubosky and Caporellie closed the gap to 22-20 and a later kill from April again brought the Griffins within two 23-21.  Bridgeport, however, scored the final two points to take the set 25-21 and the match 3-1.

For the match, the Purple Knights held a slight edge in kills 63-59  and had seven fewer attack errors (18-25), while the Griffins scored 77 points to UB's 69, recording ten aces and adding eight team blocks.  Bridgeport had just two aces and four team blocks.  The Griffins also recorded 83 digs while the Purple Knights had 73.