CWRU Sweeps Rochester to Secure First UAA Win

CWRU Sweeps Rochester to Secure First UAA Win

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The Case Western Reserve University volleyball team concluded the first University Athletic Association Round Robin with a sweep of host University of Rochester (25-19, 25-21, 25-19) on Sunday morning at the Louis Alexander Palestra in Rochester, New York.

The Spartans improved to 8-7 this season and 1-2 in UAA play, while the Yellowjackets dropped to 7-8 overall and 0-3 in league contests.

Stats and Standouts

  • First-year Maya Zarow led the team with 11 kills in the match while also contributing seven digs, and junior Sienna Olson added eight kills
  • Junior Sophia Datto paced the squad with 25 digs, followed by 10 from first-year Piper Starling
  • Starling had a team-high 18 assists with senior Avery Basinger adding 15
  • Senior Sude Naz Item and first-year Ava Felgar each had three service aces in the match

First Set (25-19)

  • With the second tied at two, CWRU won nine points in a row on the service of Felgar to take an 11-2 lead
  • Felgar had two of her aces during the 9-0 ru\n
  • Rochester cut into the deficit, making the score 14-10 on a Spartan attacking error
  • Trailing by six, the hosts used a 6-1 run to trim the deficit to just one, 19-18
  • Junior Madeline Halter and first-year Isabel Haytayan had back-to-back kills to increase the lead to three
  • After a Yellowjacket kill, Case Western Reserve won the final four points of the stanza with Item securing the set with an ace

Second Set (25-21)

  • Neither team led by more than two points in the second period until a Rochester attacking error gave the Spartans a 15-12 edge
  • Three kills in a row by the hosts tied the score at 15, but the visitors reclaimed a three-point edge with a 4-1 run, highlighted by two kills from Olson
  • Rochester cut the deficit to one three different times, using a Spartan bad set to make the score 22-21 late in the stanza
  • A Basinger kill gave CWRU a two-point lead, and Zarow finished the set with two kills in a row to put the Spartans ahead 2-0 in the match

Third Set (25-19)

  • Senior Katie Yanni gave Case Western Reserve an 11-7 lead with a kill early in the third set
  • After splitting the next five points, the Spartans went on a 7-1 run to take a nine-point lead
  • Zarow and Haytayan each had two kills during the run with Item adding a service ace
  • Rochester battled back with a 5-1 run, and after the Spartans increased their lead to seven, won three consecutive points to cut the deficit to four
  • Halter stopped the run with a kill and sophomore Thea Beran closed the match with a service ace

Spartan Notes

  • CWRU improved to 27-9 against Rochester since 2002, extending its winning streak to 12 matches in the series
  • Zarow has at least 10 kills in 11 of the team's 15 matches this season
  • Datto's 25 digs were a season high and the most by a CWRU player in a match in 2026
  • The Spartans had a .189 hitting percentage in the match, compared to .117 for the Yellowjackets
  • The sweep was the fifth this season for Case Western Reserve