Carnegie Mellon Closes Out Home Series with Wins

Oct. 7 - (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - In their second home tournament and last regular season home matches of the year, Carnegie Mellon's volleyball team won three of three matches. They opened the tournament with a 3-1 win over Medaille and a 3-0 win over Penn State Altoona on Friday and defeated Elizabethtown 3-2 on Saturday.

In the win over Medaille (30-32, 30-14, 30-17, 30-19), senior right side hitter Catie Fisher (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) and junior outside hitter Kate Stepp (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg) had double figure kills with 12 and 10, respectively. Junior outside hitter Abbie Toney (Des Moines, Iowa/Johnston) had a .455 hitting percentage and seven kills for the game. Senior setter Brea Carlock (Charlotte, N.C./Providence Day) totaled 31 assists, while freshman setter Samantha Carter (San Antonio, TX./O’Connor) had 13.

Senior libero Kat Fox (Oklahoma City, OK./Casady) had 22 digs to lead the defense, while senior Becky Metler (McLean, Va./Kent Place (N.J.)) added to her block totals with four for the game, including two solo. The team totaled 12 service aces for the game.

In the 3-0 (30-14, 31-29, 30-16) win over Penn State Altoona, Fisher again had 12 kills as Carlock tallied 30 assists. Stepp again had a nice game with eight kills and a .467 hitting percentage. Fox totaled 15 digs, while senior Amanda Bradford had nine digs in two games. Senior middle blocker Malenda Yablinkski (Patton, Pa./ Cambria Heights) had four block assists and five blocks total to lead the Tartans at the net.

Saturday's contest was more contested as Elizabethtown won the second and third games after Carnegie Mellon opened with a 1-0 lead. After struggling to finish an attack in 30-19, 30-21 losses, the Tartans regained composure and knocked out 16 kills to win game four 30-22. The momentum stayed in the Tartans favor as they ran off an 8-5 lead and finished the match with a 15-6 win.

Bradford had three of the teams seven kills in the decisive fifth game. For the match, Bradford totaled 12 kills, 15 digs and had four blocks at the net. Fisher led four Tartans in double figure kills with 14 as Metler and Toney each finished with 10. Carlock and Carter dished out over 20 assists apiece gathering 28 and 21, respectively. Fox once again was the dig leader with 31 for the match. Yablinsky repeated her performance from a night back with four block assists and five total blocks and led the team with five service aces.

The Tartans return to the road for the second University Athletic Association round robin event held at New York University on October 14 and 15. They open against #15 NYU at 10:00 a.m. Friday.