Cardinals Fight Until the Final Point vs Mary Washington
Image courtesy of Alexandra Herrmann and Catholic Athletics.
By Zoe Giacomi
On Wednesday, September 16th, Catholic University’s women’s volleyball team hosted Mary Washington for their second home game and eighth game of the season. Catholic University fell short to Mary Washington, 3-0 in sets.
Catholic started off the first set with a bang after a service error from Mary Washington. The Eagles came right back to attack Catholic, scoring the next two points. However, the Cardinals did not let this ruin their rhythm; they knew this set would be a battle.
The Eagles of Mary Washington took the lead in the first set, gaining point after point on the Cardinals. However, this did not stop the Cardinals. After Head Coach Patti Westenberg called a timeout when the Cardinals were down 10-15, they got ready to fight.
Junior setter Anna Maria Carella set up a strong defense for Catholic, having two beautiful setter dumps that led the Eagles to drop both right in the middle of the court. Once the Eagles started putting space in the score, Coach Westenberg called another timeout at 14-22 to get the Cardinals back on track. The Eagles ultimately held onto their lead and pulled ahead to secure the win for the first set, 25-16.
In the second set, the Eagles started off dominating and kept their momentum going from the first set. Mary Washington took advantage of Catholic’s weaknesses and led the scoring throughout the set. With the Cardinals trailing 8-10, Coach Westenberg decided it was time to recuperate and talk to the team, taking their first timeout of the set. Once more, Mary Washington could not be stopped, as they extended their lead to 22-10. Again, Coach Westenberg called a timeout to get Catholic back in the game, but ultimately it was not enough. The Eagles won the second set 25-14.
Going into the third set, the Cardinals knew it was now or never. They started by earning their first point off an attack error on the Eagles’ side, then receiving a service ace for a good start to the third set. The Eagles then tied up the score, but this did not stop Catholic. The majority of the third set was a back-and-forth, with both teams making great plays. The Eagles then again pulled away from that tight score, ultimately sweeping Catholic in three sets, with the final score of the third set being 25-19.
Julia Raab, a junior captain for the Cards, led the team with the most points, scoring six kills and one block.
“Although the outcome was not what we wanted, we are ready to keep working hard to continue improving throughout the season,” she said after the match.
Sophomore Juliette Cummings and freshman Maddie Wilkey followed Raab, each recording four kills, with Cummings having one block and Wilkey having three. Senior Vivian O’Brien, sophomore Marin Stensrud, and sophomore Alejandra Garcia all scored service aces throughout the game. Stensrud, as the libero, led the team with 11 digs against the Eagles. Anna Maria Carella made nine assists throughout the game, and senior Kate Berra was not far behind her, having seven assists of her own.
Catholic’s momentum is still going strong as they head into their next game on the road against Lynchburg on September 19th.
