Cabrini’s women’s volleyball team capped off what was a thrilling weekend for the Cavaliers seeing them take home a clean sweep of all four Atlantic East Conference title games being played that day. Volleyball won
their match by a score of 3-1 over the visiting Marymount Saints who the Cavaliers beat in their final regular-season conference game to earn the number one seed and home-court advantage for the tournament. The Cavaliers took on Marywood on Thursday, Nov. 4th winning that match in a 3-0 sweep to propel them to the championship match.
Marymount had to play two matches to reach the championship game including, a quarterfinal matchup with Centenary University that was ruled a no-contest, then a semifinal match-up with Neumann University, which Marymount won 3-0 to face the Cavaliers in the championship game.
The Cavaliers ended with a perfect 6-0 conference record and home-court advantage, which they used to its fullest extent with rowdy parents and student section coming out to show their support for the ladies and the university.
The match went on for four sets with the Cavaliers winning 3-1 in the fourth set. The scores of the sets were 25-22, 25-23,21-25 and finally 25-21. The last time these two teams met was at Marymount with the Cavaliers winning that match as well by a score of 3-2.
The Cavaliers were led by strong play in the championship game from senior captain Gina Custer, who had 19 assists in the match and Hannah Dalton who registered 15 kills, two aces and 17 assists during the match. Dalton also took home the most valuable player award from the tournament.
Marymount gave the Cavaliers all they could handle at times during the match with Jada Griffith exploring holes in the Cavalier’s middle defense allowing Marymount to hang around in the match along with strong upfront play by the saints keeping the match close.
Along with the strong play by Custer and Dalton, the Cavaliers were led by a strong blocking effort upfront returning many of the attempted kills by the saints to help propel the Cavaliers to the win. The top blockers for the Cavaliers were Victoria Camacho, Lilyanna Baynum and Allison Clark, all of whom had three blocks each. Another standout player for the Cavaliers was Sam Heenan with 23 digs. Melanie Cotes-Rivera had a strong game for the Cavaliers with 11 assists and strong serving through the match to help give the Cavaliers the edge.
The match featured many long rallies by both teams leading to lots of excitement for the fans in attendance. Along with the long rallies, the Cavaliers had long service runs allowing them to control the pace of play and force Marymount to take a backseat role in the match. The matches remained tight throughout which was evident by the tight final scores from each set and the close statistics.
