CHICAGO -- The University of Chicago women's volleyball team split the day in the first of two UChicago Triangular weekends. The Maroons swept Denison in the first match of the day, but they fell to North Park in an all-out five-set battle to wrap up the day.
UChicago took early control of the first set with a 5-1 run powered by kills from Diya Mishra, Caroline Sele, and Adelee Kaiton. Denison battled back late, but a strong finish from Kaiton sealed the 25-23 win in set one to set the tone for the rest of the game.
In the second set, Hillary Cheung sparked the offense with a pair of aces as UChicago jumped out to a quick lead. Denison briefly closed the gap to two points before Olivia Zamis and Gabi Spellings came up with crucial blocks to push the Maroons ahead for good and take set two 25-20.
UChicago closed out the sweep with a balanced effort on both sides of the ball. Thalita Marangon delivered much-needed kills during a 7-3 run, while Zamis and Ellie Maxwell combined on a block to end the match.
Mishra and Marangon led both teams with eight kills, and Sele added seven. Maxwell tallied a team-high 19 assists, while Cheung added 13 assists along with three aces. Zamis paced the blocking front with four.
In the final match of the day, the Maroons came out swinging, hitting over .500 in the opening set to cruise past North Park 25-16. Adelee Kaiton, Thalita Marangon, and Frances Smith took control of UChicago's offense at the net with multiple kills in the opening set.
The Vikings responded with a 25-20 win in the second to level the match at one. In the crucial third set, the Vikings jumped out to a 13-11 lead over UChicago after going on a 5-0 run. Another kill from Marangon broke the momentum as the Maroons responded with a run of their own to take the 20-19 lead and held off the Vikings' comeback to take the third set 25-23t. North Park bounced back to take the fourth, and despite a back-and-forth start to the fifth set, the Maroons were unable to hold off the North Park attack as the Vikings completed the comeback win.
Caroline Sele led the Maroons with 11 kills, while Marangon (10) and Kaiton (9) followed closely. Ellie Maxwell and Hillary Cheung combined for 39 assists, and Kaiton led the defense with 14 digs. At the net, Zamis and Smith combined for eight of UChicago's total 12 blocks.
With the split, the Maroons moved to 10-10 on the season and 4-1 in UAA play. The team returns to action on Sunday, October 26, as the Maroons host the third and final UAA Round Robin where they will match up with (RV) Carnegie Mellon and Case Western Reserve.
