Albany, N.Y. - Casey Wright and Traci Vandegrift each recorded 18 kills in leading UAlbany to a 3-1 victory over Colgate on Wednesday, Oct. 6 at University Gymnasium. The Great Danes won by scores of 33-31, 25-20, 17-25 and 25-17. The non-league match was televised locally on Time Warner Cable Sports.
     Colgate (10-8) took an early 12-8 lead in the opening set when Allie Dyer registered a service ace. In a first set that featured 18 ties, UAlbany (11-5) rallied to take a 25-24 lead when Wright blocked Lindsay Young's attack attempt. Young followed with a winner off a backset to draw Colgate even and the score seesawed. Wright snapped a 31-31 deadlock when she scored on a touch kill and her team took the set when Colgate's Maureen Colligan (13 kills) sent an attack attempt long over the end line.
     The Great Danes, who have won six of their last seven matches, led 18-17 in the second set, but then reeled off four unanswered points to take control. Wright tallied off a quick set in the middle, before Laurie Gonzalez hit a spinning shot into the Raider defense for a winner. Wright added another kill off a blocker and Colgate's Young misfired wide. The Great Danes closed out the set on a hitting error by the visitors.
     The Raiders, who are tied for second in the Patriot League standings and had won seven of their previous nine starts, broke an 8-8 tie in the third set with six consecutive points. Casey Ritt, a 6-foot senior, was involved in back-to-back points won off blocks of UAlbany attacks. Ritt added a pair of kills in that stretch, while Blaire Safir and Logan Keala ripped winners following service returns. Safir finished off the set with a kill inside the end line.
     UAlbany rallied in decisive fourth set by winning the opening four points. Teresa Coppiellie, who had 10 kills and 19 digs, scored off a block and nailed a winner after a service return. Later leading 20-13, the Great Danes strung together three straight points. Wright sandwiched two kills off quick sets from setter Kaley Jacobsen around a Colgate hitting error.
     The Great Danes' Dunja Prgomet, who tallied the final point of the match, had 12 kills and 17 digs. Abbey Wexel, a junior setter, finished with a career-high 50 assists and 12 digs. Keala led the Raiders with 17 kills and 16 digs.

Paw Prints:  Time Warner Cable Sports (TWCS) televised the match, with Andrew Catalon and Shelby (Goldman) Sayre handling the play-by-play ... Goldman was an All-America East Conference performer for the Great Danes ... Colgate assistant coach Kristen Fiorillo also was a member of the UAlbany volleyball program and a 2006 graduate ... the Great Danes posted their second consecutive four-game victory over Colgate after the teams had not played since 2001 ... Colgate leads the all-time series, 9-5 ... UAlbany has home matches against Providence (Oct. 8) and New Hampshire (Oct. 10) on Homecoming/Fall Festival Weekend.

UAlbany 3, Colgate 1 (Oct 06, 2010)