Yale Defeats Colgate 3-0, Beats Rutgers in Four

HAMILTON, N.Y.  -- The Bulldogs completed a Saturday sweep, defeating tournament host Colgate and the Big Ten's Rutgers, to capture the Colgate Classic.  

Yale (4-2) went 3-0 this weekend in Upstate New York with a variety of individual standout performances.  Sophomore setter Kelsey Crawford was named tournament MVP, while Kelly Johnson and Kelley Wirth were named to the all-tournament team.  

"We had a great weekend," Yale head coach Erin Appleman said.  "It was great to get wins on the road.  A lot of players stepped in and contributed."

In their first match on Saturday, the Bulldogs swept Colgate.  Johnson and Wirth both went for a team-high 13 kills and hit at .400 or higher.  Crawford had 29 assists and six blocks. 

The scores of the match were 25-17, 25-19 and 25-20 against Colgate.  

Yale hit a season-best .364 as a team in the second set -- and rattled off an eight-point stretch capped by Johnson and Wirth with back-to-back kills to take an 18-12 lead. 

In the third set, Wirth broke a 17-all tie and started a four-point run that included two kills from Johnson, who eventually closed out the set and match.

In the win over Rutgers, Wirth continued her hot hitting with team-best 14 kills.  Johnson, Jesse Ebner and Kaitlyn Gibbons all had 10 kills. 

The scores of the win over Rutgers were 25-14, 25-14, 19-25 and 25-21.  

Wirth (13 digs), Gibbons (11 digs) and Johnson (12 digs) all produced double-doubles.  Kate Swanson led the team with 15 digs, while Crawford had 39 assists and eight digs. 

The Bulldogs stormed out with a torrid .440 team hitting percentage -- surpassing their previous high earlier in the day -- in the first set.  Yale produced an efficient 12 kills in 25 swings with only one error.  

Ebner capped an 11-2 run with an ace to give Yale a 23-12 lead in the first.

In the second set, Gibbons, Ebner and Wirth went for three straight kills to put Yale ahead 13-8.  Crawford extended Yale's lead to 11 with a solo block and make it 24-13.

With the score tied at 6 in the fourth, Yale scored nine of the next 11 points.  Gibbons kicked off the run with a kill, Swanson followed with an ace, and Wirth had a kill and a block to account for four straight points. 

"We looked real good at times, but we still have some areas that need improvement," Appleman added.

The Bulldogs' next match will be on the West Coast.  Yale travels to San Francisco next weekend to take on the University of San Francisco, North Dakota State and Cal State Fullerton.  

Report filed by Ernie Bertothy, Yale Sports Publicity