The Chestnut Hill College Women's Volleyball team came together Wednesday night and produced a solid team win, defeating first place Georgian Court University 3-1 at Sorgenti Arena.
The Griffins improve to 8-4 in Central Atlantic Collegiate conference games and 14-7 overall. The Lions drop to 9-2 in league play and 13-9 overall. Chestnut Hill maintains their hold on second place in the CACC South Division as they strive towards hosting a playoff game for the second consecutive year.
Chestnut Hill started off the match with a 25-19 win in the opening set. The Lions tied the match at 1-1 with a 26-24 win in the second set. A back and forth third set the Griffins prevail 27-25 and the Griffins led wire-to-wire in the fourth set to take the match with a 25-18 win in the fourth set.
Angela April and Erika Dubosky led the Griffins with 11 kills apiece. April had a solid attack game with just two attack errors in 18 attempts for a .500 attack% to lead the team.  Maya Hopson added nine kills and Rachel Mace and Cha'kya Johnson had eight kills apiece.
Mia Caporellie set the offense for Chestnut Hill recording a game-high 46 assists. Mace and April led the team with three aces apiece.
On the defensive side, Mace led the Griffins with 18 digs while Alexandra Crespin and Dubosky added 12 apiece. Pamela Uceta chipped in ten digs. Hopson led all players with four blocks.
The first set was the first of two sets that the Griffins led wire-to-wire, jumping out to an early 9-3 lead and never looking back. The Lions closed within two at 12-10 before the Griffins exploded with an 8-1 run to lead 20-11. Mace recorded a pair of aces during the run while April added an ace of her own and a kill. Dubosky capped the run with a kill. Uceta's kill later made the score 23-13 before the Lions went on a 6-1 run to pull within five at 24-19. Mace then closed out the set with a kill.
Chestnut Hill had a 10-5 lead in the second set, but the Lions roared back with an 11-5 outburst to retake the lead 16-15. Nine ties and two lead changes followed as the set progressed and eventually was tied at 24-24 before two Griffin errors gave the Lions the set, 26-24 and tied the match at 1-1.
Georgian Court jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the third set but four straight points from the Griffins closed the gap to 7-6 before the Lions opened up a four point lead 13-9. Again, the Griffins ran off four straight points, tying the set at 13-13. Five ties followed before the Lions strung together back to back points off a pair of CHC attack errors to take a 20-18 lead. Chestnut Hill would not back down and scored the next three points with April getting two kills to take their first lead of the set at 21-20. Georgian Court followed with a 4-1 run to bring themselves to set point.   CHC again scored three straight to reverse course and themselves hold a set point possibility at 25-24.   The Lions tied the game before Hopson added a kill and Uceta an ace to give the Griffins a 27-25 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth and final set was another wire-to-wire lead for the Griffins, jumping out to a 6-2 advantage early and then increasing the lead to six, 16-10. Georgian Court pulled within two 16-14 but an attack error from the Lions, an ace from Kate Hanley and a block by Hopson pushed the lead to five 19-14. The Griffins still led by three 21-18 when they scored the final four points of the match, the last two on errors from the lions to win the set 25-18 and the match 3-1.
Nylene Mateo led the Lions with 19 kills while Georgia Cappelletti had 19 digs.
The women's volleyball team returns to action on Saturday, November 2, 2024, when they host the University of Bridgeport in a key crossover conference match at Sorgenti arena. First serve is set for 12:00 noon.
