Kelsea Loveless is one of three Raiders to be honored prior to the Navy match.
11/11/2009 9:50:13 AM
ON TAP THIS WEEK: Colgate will take its five-match win streak into the final regular-season weekend of the season. The Raiders close out the regular-season with a pair of important home league matches that could determine who hosts the 2009 Patriot League Tournament. Colgate hosts American Friday evening at 7 p.m. in a clash between two schools that have already clinched a spot in the Patriot League semifinals. The following afternoon, the Raiders will salute three graduating seniors (Meghan Fanta, Kelsea Loveless and Ilona Matulaitis) prior to their match-up with Navy. The festivities begin at 4 p.m.
WHATS AT STAKE: Heading into last weekend, it appeared like the tournament was destined for West Point. However, two league losses by Army have given both Colgate and American new hope to possibly host the tournament. Army and Colgate are tied for the league lead with 10-2 marks, while American is one game behind in the standings at 9-3. The Raiders need to defeat both American and Navy and hope either Lehigh or Lafayette go to West Point and knock off Army. Should that happen, Colgate would serve as the host for the Patriot League Tournament. Should Colgate and Army win both, Army hosts since it would win the tiebreaker over Colgate. If American wins both matches and both Colgate and Army lose once, there is a three-way tie for first and various tiebreakers would come into play.
MEET THE COACH: Ryan Baker is in his fourth season at the helm of the Colgate program. The Utica, N.Y. native has taken the Raiders from the bottom of the Patriot League to the upper echelon in a short period of time. Baker sports a 60-52 record at Colgate after taking over the program for the 2006 season. In his second year, the Ithaca College graduate piloted the Raiders to a 17-13 overall record, the program’s first winning season since 1996. Colgate has advanced to the Patriot League Tournament final the last two years – defeating Army in a semifinal match-up both times before falling to American in the finale. After guiding Clarkson to a 22-11 record in 2004, Baker served as an assistant at Colgate for the 2005 season before being elevated.
LAST TIME OUT: Colgate posted two come-from-behind victories in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Raiders downed Lafayette 22-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-20 Friday evening before edging Lehigh 19-25, 28-26, 20-25, 25-14, 15-10 Saturday afternoon. Kaylee Dougherty and Logan Keala paced the Raiders offensively with 13 and 11 kills respectively versus the Leopards. Devon Applegate tallied a match-high 15 assists and Colgate collected nine team blocks on the evening – five coming from Blaire Safir. On Saturday, Kaleigh Durket (14), Maureen Colligan (13), Keala (13), Dougherty (12) and Casey Ritt (12) led the balanced attack of five players over 10 kills. Colgate hit .304 as a team versus Lehigh. Devon Applegate posted a career-high 29 digs in the win.
PATRIOT LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Kaylee Dougherty became the second Raider to garner Patriot League Player of the Week in 2009. The sophomore tallied 25 kills; hit .500 and five blocks as Colgate posted two wins versus Lafayette and Lehigh. Dougherty hit .550 and collected 13 kills, one short of her career high, versus Lafayette. The following afternoon, she had her ninth match of 10 or more kills with 12 in a five-set victory over Lehigh. Kaleigh Durket was named the player of the week for her performances versus Syracuse and Bucknell.
THE SERIES RECORDS: American holds a comfortable 18-2 advantage in the all-time series versus Colgate. The Raiders won the inaugural meeting back in 1996 before dropping 18 in a row. Colgate is looking for its first regular-season sweep of American. This has been the match-up for the previous two Patriot League championship matches.
Colgate holds a 23-13 advantage over Navy. The Raiders have won the last seven over the Midshipmen.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
American heads to Hamilton with a six-match win streak and a 15-11 overall mark. Since their last loss at Army, the Eagles have responded well with three shutouts and rebounded to defeat the Black Knights 3-1 last Saturday in Washington D.C. American leads the Patriot League in blocking, averaging 2.16 team blocks per set.
Top Players
Angelina Waterman – 308 kills, 33 aces, 55 blocks
Magdalena Tekiel – 269 kills, 25 aces
Cassandra Ricketts – 220 kills, 21 aces, 58 blocks
Claire Recht – 177 kills, 85 blocks
Krysta Cicala - 938 assists
Cynammon Burns – 226 digs
Navy enters play Friday evening with a 7-20 overall mark. While the Midshipmen have lost six of their last seven matches, their victory last Friday threw a quandary into the Patriot League standings. Navy downed Army 3-1 in Annapolis handing the Black Knights their first league loss of the year. Its other league victory came early in the opening weekend versus Lafayette.
Top Players
Meghan Carpenter – 235 kills, 19 aces
Krista Eschelman – 165 kills, 58 blocks
Abbie Merkl – 154 kills, 23 aces, 41 blocks
Maida Kalic – 146 kills, 47 blocks
Jenny Rudewicz - 777 assists, 175 digs, 14 aces
Holly Berger – 258 digs, 25 aces
LAST TIME AGAINST THE EAGLES: Colgate ended an 18-match winless skid to American with a 14-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-23 victory at Bender Arena on October 3. Kaleigh Durket hit .520 against the Eagle defense with 13 kills in 25 swings, while Maureen Colligan and Kaylee Dougherty added 13 and 11 kills respectively. Colgate used a strong blocking effort in the win, posting 14 team blocks on the evening. Casey Ritt had seven blocks to lead the way.
LAST TIME AGAINST THE MIDSHIPMEN: Logan Keala had one of her best all around matches of her career with a 12-kill, 16-dig, five-block evening in a 23-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-13 victory. Kaylee Dougherty had nine kills and seven blocks and Kaleigh Durket chipped in nine kills in the victory.
POUNDING THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: Kaylee Dougherty’s and Casey Ritt’s hitting percentages are significantly higher against league competition. In 12 matches, Dougherty is hitting .358 versus Patriot League foes with 1125 kills in 257 swings (33 errors), while Ritt is swinging at a .311 clip with 99 kills in 228 attacks. Over her last four matches, Ritt has 39 kills on 85 attacks (only seven errors) for a .37647 hitting efficiency.
A LEAGUE THEIR OWN: Heading into the final week of the regular season, two Raiders lead the Patriot League in statistical categories. Casey Ritt holds a narrow lead in blocks per game. The junior averages 0.97 per set, 0.01 ahead of Army’s Amanda Rowell. She has 16 blocks in her last four outings, including a career-high 10 versus Binghamton on October 28. Devon Applegate widened her lead in digs per set with her performances against Lafayette and Lehigh. The junior averages 4.06 per game, 0.08 better than her nearest competitor. Applegate has six matches this year over 20 digs, including a career-high 29 in her last outing at Lehigh.
WHAT’S UP DOC: Over her past eight matches, you might be pressed to find a hotter hitter on the Colgate roster than Kaylee Dougherty. Beginning with a four-set victory against Bucknell on October 9, the sophomore is hitting .3417 (72-20-162) during this span. Her last four matches have been even more impressive with a .535 hitting percentage (43-5-71). Those numbers include one of her most efficient matches of her career with a .667 hitting efficiency (10-0-15) in a three-set win at Holy Cross.
LENDING A HELPING HAND: Meghan Fanta moved into seventh on the all-time Patriot League assist list with her 30-assist performance against Bucknell a few weeks ago. With her 60 assists last weekend at Lafayette and Lehigh, the senior is 53 assists away from passing Elita Powell of Army for sixth on the all-time league list. The all-time assist leader in Colgate history has 3,879 on her career. During her career she has established the single season school assist record (1,191 in 2006), the second highest assist total (1,149 in 2007), and the 10th best (902 in 2008).
All-Time PL Top 10
1. Beth Bellinger, Army (98-01) 4,380
2. Sue Snyder, Lehigh (92-95) 4,190
3. Abby Casciato, Army (02-05) 4,091
4. Maureen Bannon, Army (06-SA) 3,964
5. Christina Nash, American (05-08) 3,949
6. Elita Powell, Army (90-93) 3,931
7. Meghan Fanta, Colgate (2006-SA) 3,879
8. Patty Watson, Lehigh (95-98) 3,809
9. Shannon Pitsch, Bucknell (05-08) 3,614
10. Megan Carter, Lafayette (05-08) 3,556
PICKED SECOND IN THE PL: After advancing to back to back league tournament finales, Colgate was selected to finish second in the Patriot League Preseason Poll as determined by the league head coaches and volleyball media relation contacts at member institutions. American copped 12 of 16 first place votes and was the consensus choice to win its ninth consecutive league title. The Raiders collected three first place votes and 79 points to edge Army by one point in the voting.