CUA finishes action at tournament with a pair of wins

WASHINGTON – The CUA volleyball team swept its final two matches at the Worthington Classic on Saturday to finish the weekend at 3-1.  The Cardinals downed a strong Penn State-Behrend squad 3-1 in the opener and then took down Meredith 3-0 in the second match.

Following Saturday's action CUA now sits at 13-10 on the season.

In the opening match against Penn State-Behrend the Cardinals took the first set 25-22 before falling in the second set by an identical 25-22 score.

In the third set CUA emerged 29-27 and the Cardinals then put the match away with a 25-23 win in the fourth set.

Claudia Jean continued her strong play for the Cardinals with 19 digs and 15 kills, while Bridget Kulesh totaled a team-best 22 kills.  Kristina Purcell added 16 digs and Katie Chefalas registered 11 kills and 13 digs. 

Michaela Carroll again led CUA in assists with 52, while Katrina Baccetti added four kills and a pair of digs.

In the second match of the day and final one of the weekend, CUA breezed past Meredith by scores of 25-15, 25-13 and 25-18.

Jean earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team after totaling 13 kills and eight digs, while Kulesh added 12 kills and five digs.  Carroll handed out 34 assists to go along with four digs and Kristen Shoeffling registered five digs.

"This was a great weekend for us," CUA coach Nagy Abdelrazek said afterwards.  "We faced very strong competition in each match we played which will only help us for next weekend (in conference play)."  

He added, "We still have some work to do and a few things to improve but we played well this weekend and I'm pleased with our performance."

CUA will return to action on Wednesday evening when the Cardinals play host to York College inside DuFour Gymnasium.  The match is slated to begin at 7:00.