NORTHFIELD, Minn. - The University of Chicago volleyball team split the second day at the St. Olaf/ Carleton Tournament after falling to Macalester in their first match of the day, but taking out the gritty win over Carleton to closeout their time in the North Star State.
MACALESTER
In a tough match for the Maroons, Macalester took the win in four sets holding Chicago to a .114 hitting percentage on the day.
After a slow start in the opening set, Chicago clawed their way back to win the second. Kicking off the set with a 9-4 lead after back-to-back service aces by Adelee Kaiton, the Maroons saw a spark of offensive flow. After an attack error and another two kills from Kaiton and Gabi Spellings, Chicago jumped out to 16-11, but before it was over the Scots took the lead 21-20. Diya Mishra chimed in on the offense and slammed a kill from Hillary Cheung, then served up an ace to give the momentum back to the Maroons. An ace by Ellie Maxwell closed set two, 25-23.
In sets three and four Chicago found ways to get the ball moving, but couldn't capitalize on open areas of Macalester's defense. Getting the ball over the net was a tough struggle for both teams as both the Maroons and the Scots had an attacking average of under 20%.
Though losing the match, Chicago beat out Macalester in almost every stat category. In kills, the Maroons had the upper hand, 50-44, and in digs Chicago had 67 as the Scots only tallied 60.
In the match, Diya Mishra recorded her 1,000 kill of her career as a Maroon.
CARLETON
Hoping to closeout their time in Minnesota on a high note, the Maroons forced their first sweep of the season over Carleton to end the day.
Freshman Adelee Kaiton led all teams with 12 kills and six digs. Diya Mishra and Olivia Ipp each added eight kills to roundout the Maroons poised offense. Defensively, Mishra tallied up a match best of 17 digs.
After being tied 3-3 in the opening set, the Maroons went on a 6-0 scoring run. Carleton answered back with their own run, but Chicago's strong serving edged out the Knights to closeout set one 25-21.
In the service game, Caroline Sele and Hillary Cheung had three aces each, helping UChicago generate crucial momentum. Cheung also added 14 assists and 10 digs, while Grace Xu paced the team with 15 assists of her own.
At the net, the Maroons totaled five team blocks, with Gabi Spellings tallying four and Ip adding three.
Carleton pushed UChicago in the third set, rallying late to force extra points, but the Maroons held firm to seal the sweep with a 27-25 final frame.
Up Next
The Maroons will begin conference play as they head to Atlanta, Georgia for the first UAA Round Robin. There, they'll take on Rochester and NYU on Saturday, then face #7 WashU on Sunday afternoon.
