A balanced attack and solid defense were keys to the match as the Chestnut Hill College Women's Volleyball team opened their 2024 season with a 3-0 win over West Chester University Saturday afternoon at Sorgenti Arena.
The Griffins start the season at 1-0 while West Chester fall to 2-5. The win marks only the second time in 11 meetings that the Griffins earned a win against the Golden Rams, the last coming in 2022, a 3-1 victory at Sorgenti.
Five different Griffins had at least five kills in the match, with Erika Dubosky leading the way with 11. Rachel Mace added seven while Pamela Uceta and Angela April had six apiece. Cha'kya Johnson chipped in five as the Griffins recorded 36 on the afternoon while hitting a very respectable .248 (36-11-101)
Uceta led the team with three aces while Mia Caporellie and Alexandra Crespin  had two apiece. Caporellie, now in graduate school, returns for her final season and again led Chestnut Hill with 27 assists to set the offense. Crespin added six out of the libero position.
Defensively, the Griffins held the Golden Rams to just 24 kills and a .062 (24-18-97) attack%. Crespin and Mace led three players in double figures with 12 digs apiece while Caporellie added 11 to record a double-double (the 39th of her career). Maya Hopson led the team with three blocks while April and Johnson added two apiece.
Photo Gallery from today's match
The Griffins jumped out to the early lead in the opening set and held a 10-8 lead before an 8-2 run pushed their lead to eight 18-10. West Chester scored two straight points before the Griffins closed out the set with a 7-1 run to take the early 1-0 lead  with a 25-13 win.
West Chester scored the first point of the second set and the Griffins followed with a 13-5 run to lead 13-6. Still leading by seven, WCU's CeCe Isenberg ran off three straight kills to close the gap to four 18-14 but that would be as close as the Rams would come as the Griffins put together another solid run, 7-2, getting a pair of kills from Dubosky and another from Mace alone with aces from Uceta and April, the latter giving the Griffins a 25-16 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Looking to put the match away, Chestnut Hill jumped out to an 18-13 lead before the Golden Rams scored five straight points to tie the score at 18-18 in the third set. Three volley's later WCU took only their second lead of the match at 20-19. CHC regained the lead, 22-21 but two straight points from the golden Rams put the visitors back on top 23-22, forcing a Griffins'timeout.Â
Out of the timeout, Mace tied the score with a kill, prompting a West Chester timeout. Mace followed with an ace and Dubosky added a kill to close out the set, 25-23 and give the Griffins the 3-0 win.
Abiah Lane led the Golden Rams with nine kills. Megan St. Jean had seven digs and 15 assists.
The women's volleyball team is back in action on Wednesday, April 18, 2024, when they open conference play with a match at Georgian Court University. First serve is at 6:00 p.m.
