GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Carroll volleyball participated in the Midwest Invitational, hosted by Calvin University, on Friday and Saturday, going 1-2 on the weekend. Carroll played Mount St. Joseph's to five sets on Friday night, suffering a heartbreaking loss. On Saturday, Carroll split the two matches, losing to host Calvin University (RV) in straight sets and turning around to defeat Kenyon College in likewise fashion.
Sophomore Payton Depies tallied her 1,000th assist early in the third match against Kenyon on Saturday, becoming the 13th Pioneer to do so. As just a sophomore, Depies nears the top-ten all time with well over two full seasons to play.
MATCH 1 vs MOUNT ST. JOSEPH (17-25, 26-24, 25-21, 23-25, 13-15)
In just the fourth match to go to five sets on the season, and first since September 6th (a 3-2 victory over Central College), Carroll (18-9, 1-2 CCIW) found themselves on the losing end for the fourth consecutive match. Carroll dropped the first set before rallying to take the next two. Mt. St. Joseph (6-10, 2-0 HCAC) closed the match out, taking the final two sets by a combined four points, delivering a crushing defeat to the Pioneers in a back-and-forth match. Bronwyn Rowse recorded a new high in kills on her young career, delivering 19 for Carroll. Ashley Miller also recorded a career-high with five aces. Miller also had 19 assists on the night, sitting second on the team, just behind 22 from Depies. Defensively, Junior Maggie McGough recorded 21 digs to pace Carroll to move into 10th place all-time in career digs. Kylie Wittnebel led the navy and orange with six blocks, a five-set career high for her.
MATCH 2 vs CALVIN (17-25, 14-25, 20-25)
Host Calvin University who received votes in the latest AVCA/TARFLEX polls, proved too much for Carroll, defeating the Pioneers in straight sets. Calvin (11-7, 1-1 MIAA) paced the Pioneers in every statistical category, including 13 aces to Carroll's four. Rowse led Carroll with nine kills, with Grace Perret and Lizzy Williams tallying three apiece. Ashley Miller had three more aces in the second match, while Depies collected 11 assists. On the defensive side, McGough led with 18 digs and Rebekah Andreae had four blocks.
MATCH 3 vs KENYON (25-12, 25-12, 26-24)
Carroll managed to snap their five game losing streak in the closing match of the Midwest Invitational, dominating Kenyon College in straight sets. Carroll nearly doubled-up Kenyon (7-11, 1-1 NCAC) in kills, recording 43 to the Owls 22. Six Pioneers had at least five kills, with Kylie Wittnebel leading the way with nine and a .571 kill percentage. Taylor Raley led the team with five service aces to push her season total to 41, which is six shy of cracking the top-10 for single season aces by a Pio, while Depies led the team with 21 more assists. McGough tallied 11 more digs to move into 7th place on the Carroll leaderboard in career digs. Additionally, Rowse led the team with three stuffs at the net.
Carroll gets back to conference-play on Friday, October 18 when they travel to Elmhurst looking to remain in good standing in the CCIW race. Match play will begin at 7 p.m.
