Box Score RUTHERFORD, NJ – In the final home match of the 2022 season, Felician women's volleyball (3-25/3-15 CACC) made an entertaining performance despite losing to Caldwell University, 3-1 (15-25, 23-25, 25-23, 20-25) at Job Gymnasium Wednesday night.
Caldwell (9-16/8-9 CACC) started the match strong with a 7-1 lead on 4 Cougar kills, 2 service aces and 2 Felician attack errors. The Golden Falcons struggled to get a rally going as they continued to drop 18-8, until senior Hannah Chiswick (Pittstown, NJ) recorded a kill in an attempt to chip away at the lead. The Cougars ended up closing the first set, 25-15.
The start of the second set lit a fire for the Golden Falcons as they started off with a 6-point rally on back-to-back Chiswick kills, a Cailey Jones (Bel Air, MD) kill, and visitor attack errors. The Cougars were able to regain the lead, 9-8, after an Alexsandra Mojica kill, but Felician flipped the score back after two Lorina Stoycheva (Sofia, Bulgaria) service aces to make the score 16-14. The Golden Falcons were able to hold off its opponents until the 21st point where the Cougars tied it up to eventually win the set, 25-23.
The third set was all Felician. The hosts came back from a 4-point deficit as Caldwell held a 17-13 lead. Catherine Lentsch (Elkhorn, NE) recorded a kill to help her team edge the Cougars until the score was tied at 18 after a Caldwell attack error. The Golden Falcons capitalized with a Lentsch kill to take the lead, 19-18, and a few points later, Lentsch and Sara Betts (Goodyear, AZ) tallied a kill each to send the match to a fourth set.
In the final set of the night, the Golden Falcons continued to fight. They started off with a 5-1 lead with Miquela Martinez (Santa Fe, NM) recording a kill and Chiswick adding a service ace. At the 15th point, both teams were neck-and-neck until a Betts attack error to give Caldwell the momentum to close out the fourth set and run away with the match win.
The Golden Falcons were led by Chiswick's 10 kills and 16 digs, Lentsch had 10 kills and 2 blocks, and Betts had 8 kills. Martinez tallied 31 assists and 13 digs and Natalie Kashian (Secaucus, NJ) and Stoycheva had 11 digs apiece.
The women's volleyball team have one more match of its 2022 season as they travel to Goldey-Beacom College on Friday at 7pm.
