The Chestnut Hill College Women's volleyball team opened their weekend at the Crimson Hawk Classic with two matches, starting with host Indiana University of Pennsylvania Friday morning and finishing the day with Elizabeth City State University in the afternoon.
IUP defeated the Griffins 3-0 in the opening match of the Tournament while the Griffins rebounded with a 3-1 win over ECSU in match two. The Griffins are now 2-4 overall.
ECSU won the first set of the match 25-15 before the Griffins rebounded to take the next three, 25-20, 25-19 and 25-13.
Nicole Dimiris and Kass Kimmel led the Griffins with ten kills apiece while Ayla Mirarchi and Maya Hopson had six each. Sofia Rodriguez led the Griffins with 35 assists. Sadie Bayko led the team with three service aces. Katelyn Dougherty, Micah McKenzie and Sarah Allen had two apiece.
Allen led all players with 19 digs while Kimmel added 14 to complete a double-double. Mirarchi and Rachel Mace had six apiece. Hopson finished the match with four blocks while McKenzie chipped in three
ECSU jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set and never looked back as they cruised to a 25-15 win in the opening set. Chestnut Hill pulled as close as two 13-11 before the Vikings closed out the set on a 12-4 run.
The Griffins opened the second set with a 10-3 run, fueled by two kills from Kimmel, a pair of aces from Allen and one from Dougherty. The Vikings rallied with an 11-4 run to tie the score at 14-14. CHC went back up by two 16-14 and held the lead the rest of the way. Still leading by two, 21-19, the Griffins got an ace from Bayko and a kill from Dimiris to double their lead, 23-19. CHC scored two of the final three points to take the set and even the match at 1-1. Kimmel had seven kills without an error in eight attempts in the set.
It was a similar start in the third set with the Griffins jumping out to a 10-4 lead before ECSU battled back to tie the contest at 17-17. Chestnut Hill closed out the set with an 8-2 spurt to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Six different Griffin players recorded at least one kill in the set.
It was another 10-4 start for the Griffins in the fourth set but this time there was no battling back for the Vikings who would never get any closer than five as the Griffins expanded their lead to double digits late as they cruised to a 25-13 win in the set to take the match 3-1. Bayko had two aces among the Griffins' final points while Mirarchi had two kills including the decisive point that clinched the match.
Chestnut Hill struggled in the opening match against host IUP, falling in three sets (25-7, 25-17, 25-12). Dimiris led the team with seven kills while McKenzie added four.
Rodriguez had 15 assists setting the CHC offense.   Mace had a team-high ten digs.
The women's volleyball team returns to action on Saturday, September 20, 2025, for the final two matches of the tournament. Chestnut Hill will play the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown and University of Charleston on Saturday.
