WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Cedar Crest College volleyball team split a pair of matches to close the Worthington Classic on Saturday. The Falcons began the day with a sweep of the Pratt Institute and then lost to Utica University in four sets to finish the tournament.

Match One – Cedar Crest 3, Pratt Institute 0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-17)

The Falcons scored the first three points to grab the early advantage. Pratt answered back to go up 6-5 after a block by junior Olivia Julich (Greenville, S.C.). Cedar Crest jumped back in front with a 4-0 run, finished off by a kill from senior Ava Grapsy (Macungie, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic). Later in the frame, the Falcons used separate 4-0 and 6-0 runs to build a 21-14 lead, capped off by a kill from senior Ziah Melton (Allentown, Pa./William Allen). The Cannoneers were able to cut the margin to as few as five, but Cedar Crest closed out the frame with a kill from Melton to take the opening set, 25-19.

The Falcons embarked on a 7-1 run to begin the second stanza, capped off by a service ace from Grapsy. Cedar Crest grew its lead to nine, 12-3, following a 4-0 run. Pratt responded with five straight points, finished off by a kill by fifth-year Zeynep Akgol (Instanbul, Turkey) to make the score 12-8. A 5-1 Falcons' spurt pushed the Cedar Crest margin back up to eight, 17-9, following a block by Grapsy and sophomore Ellise Everett (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona). The Cannoneers cut the lead in half, 23-19, but a kill and an ace junior Alexis Cummins (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) gave the Falcons the 25-19 win and a 2-0 set advantage.

The teams traded the first 18 points of the third set, 9-9. Cedar Crest broke the tie with a 3-0 run, capped off by a service ace from Grapsy to make the score, 12-9. Later in the frame, with the score tied at 15, the Falcons finished the set on a 10-2 run to take the set, 25-17 and the match in straight sets.

Melton paced the offense with 13 kills while hitting .476 on the match. Grapsy pitched in 10 kills, five service aces, three blocks, one assist, and two digs. First-year Nikki Blair (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) dished out a match-high 29 assists while senior Rebekka Sanchez-Castro (Columbia, Md./Atholton) had 13 digs to guide the Cedar Crest defense.

Match Two – Utica 3, Cedar Crest 1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-23)

The teams traded the first 30 points of the first set, 15-15. A few points later, with Utica up 19-17, Cedar Crest went on an 8-3 run to post the 25-22 first set win.

The Pioneers would take the second set by a tight 25-23 score. After the set was tied at 22, Utica finished on a 3-1 run to capture the frame.

The Pioneers then went onto take the last two sets by 25-15 and 25-23 scores.
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Grapsy recorded a double-double of 15 kills and 24 digs. Cummins finished with 15 kills, two service aces, and 18 digs. Everett followed with 14 kills and a team-high three blocks. Blair contributed 43 assists and 14 digs. Sanchez-Castro tallied 30 digs, nine assists, and one service ace. Sophomore Alana Connor (Manassas, Va./Charles J. Colgan) had a strong defensive match with 23 digs.

Cedar Crest (5-8 overall) will begin conference play with its next match, which will take place at home against Notre Dame of Maryland University at 7:00 p.m.

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