CLEVELAND, Ohio—The Mount Union women's volleyball team dropped a five-set match (16-25, 19-25, 25-14, 25-21 and 13-15) to Case Western Reserve Wednesday night at the Horsburgh gymnasium.
Mount Union (2-2) was led by a career night from senior
Maria Ellesin (Alliance / Marlington) who had a career-high 20 kills on a hitting percentage of .313. Sophomore
Heaven Bartell (Cleveland / St. Joseph Academy) tied her career-high with 16 kills on .353 hitting percentage.
Senior setters
Mollie Thomas (Massillon / Massillon Perry) and
Katie May (Brecksville / Independence) finished with 30 and 21 assists receptively.
Senior libero
Alyssa Kasaris (North Royalton) finished with a team-high 21 digs while Bartell and sophomore
Katelyn Lesko (Mineral Ridge) both had 16 digs in the match.
In the first set Case Western (4-1) got out to a quick 8-1 lead. Mount Union (2-2) got within two points at 16-14 but a 9-2 run from Case Western finished off the first set.
For the second set Case Western once again got out to a lead this time being 6-1. Mount Union got its first lead of the match, 7-6 on a block from Ellesin and sophomore
Alexis Meyer (Avon Lake). A back-and-forth next couple of points saw the Purple Raiders get its largest lead of 12-9 on a service ace from Lesko. Case Western retook the lead at 16-15 and finished off the set on a 9-4 run.
The Raiders flipped the role in the third set as they started out 11-0 led by three service aces by Bartell. Case Western only got within seven once in the set as Mount Union finished the set with 14 kills with a hitting percentage of .393.
To start the fourth set neither team got a lead bigger than three points up a kill from Ellesin and Bartell to take a 12-7 lead. Mount Union got its largest lead of the set on a hitting error from Case Western to take a 17-11 lead. Case Western got within two but a kill from Ellesin and Thomas finished off the set.
Mount Union got out to a 7-4 lead into the fifth set but a 5-0 run from Case Western gave them a two point lead. Mount Union regained the lead at 13-12 but a 3-0 run from Case Western finished off the set.
The Raiders now will host the Purple and White Invitational on Friday and Saturday September 9-10. Mount Union begins the tournament with a match at 2 p.m. against Allegheny.
