Colby Volleyball beats Brandeis, falls to Tufts

Paige Hanssen (Dean Denis Photography)

MEDFORD, Mass. — Kim Donaldson had 16 kills and Molly Manuel dished 31 assists to help the Colby College volleyball team to a 3-1 victory over Brandeis University on Saturday at Tufts University.

Earlier in the day, the Mules dropped a 3-0 NESCAC decision to Tufts.

 

Colby (8-9 overall, 3-4 NESCAC) will play host to Middlebury College in a league match this Friday at 8 p.m.

 

Donaldson had a hitting percentage of .481 and had four solo blocks in a 22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-17 win over Brandeis. Karolina Serhan also had four solo blocks and finished with nine kills. Paige Hanssen added seven kills, 12 digs, and a pair of aces. Erin Maidman came up with 26 digs and Sarah Arvidson added 11.

 

Donaldson finished with 10 kills and Natalie Roy had 14 defensive digs for Colby against Tufts. 

 

Arvidson added seven kills, 10 defensive digs, and two service aces for Colby. Noyes added 12 digs, while Serhan led the Mules in service aces with four. Manuel had a team-high 15 assists and Emily Moslener finished with nine.

 

Maddie Kuppe had 10 kills, 12 dig, and three aces for Tufts.

 

Colby jumped out to an early lead in set one, but the Jumbos scored five points behind the serve of senior Maddie Kuppe to tie things at six. Things were tied three other times before Colby scored six straight points behind the serve of Karolina Serhan to take a 14-11 lead. They would keep that lead until the Jumbos were able to knot things up at 18.  Colby had a 23-22 lead but the Jumbos got two kills from Kuppe and a Colby error to pull out the 25-23 win in set one.

 

The Jumbos and the Mules traded points to start the second set.  With things tied at six the Jumbos got two kills from sophomore Katie Kim, a kill and two aces from Kuppe and some Colby errors to move to a 15-9 lead. The Mules would not give up, coming within four, but the Jumbos pulled out the 25-19 win in set two.
The Jumbos changed things up in set three, jumping out to an early lead off two blocks from junior Elizabeth Ahrens and two kills from sophomore Anique Barch.  The Mules locked things up at four, and the two teams would trade points, and the lead, until a service error by Colby, and a kill by Ahrens and Kuppe gave the Jumbos the 12-8 advantage.
After a Colby timeout, and a kill by Paige Hanssen, the Jumbos scored seven consecutive points behind the serve of senior Kyra Baum to take a 19-9 lead. Colby put together a string of three points behind the serve of Sarah Arvidson but they weren’t able to pull out a win, falling 25-16 in the third set.