EASTON, Pa. - Lafayette wrapped up the Leopard Invitational on Sunday, splitting a pair of matches. The Maroon and White captured their sixth win of the season in a 3-0 sweep over Quinnipiac and dropped a 3-0 decision to Penn.
The Leopards kicked off Sunday facing off against Quinnipiac. Using an 8-1 run to open the period, Lafayette coasted to a 25-16 set one victory. During the stanza, Grace Jamison collected four of her 10 kills in the match. Junior Auma Mbeche-Odhiambo followed suit, tallying 10 spikes of her own. Rookie LK LaMonica recorded eight assists. Defensively, the Maroon and White notched four blocks, with Jamison and Johanna Groger racking up four block assists each.
The second set opened with the Leopards capturing the first two points. Immediately after, the Bobcats countered with a seven-point stretch to take their first lead of the match. Lafayette clawed its way back during the middle of the set, tying the game at 12. Quinnipiac regained a lead down the stretch, 18-14. The Leopards retaliated, capturing seven of the next eight points for a 21-19 advantage. During the stretch, four different members of the Maroon and White record kills, while Noa Kamphuis chipped in with a service ace. Both squads traded scores towards the conclusion of the set, but a service error and an attack error from the visitors granted Lafayette a 25-23 set win.
In the final set of the match, Lafayette found itself leading 8-7. Over the next 13 points, the Leopards tallied 11 scores (19-9). Quinnipiac closed the gap near the end of the stanza, but Mbeche-Odhiambo clinched the 3-0 set sweep with one of her five spikes in the set. Jamison (3) and Jada Aksu (3) combined for six kills in the period, while LaMonica and Sophia Wilson added seven and four assists, respectively.Â
The Leopards' second game of the day came against Penn. In the first set, the Quakers held a 9-7 lead. With Lafayette close, Penn ripped off rallies of six and five-straight points to build upon its advantage (20-9). The visitors wrapped up the period down the stretch, 25-16, with kills from Haley Kerstetter, Jenna Garner and Adell Murray.Â
Penn, the only team to finish the Leopard Invitational undefeated, won sets two (25-12) and three (25-15). Kerstetter (10) and Ellie Siskin (10)Â provided 20 of the Quakers' 42 kills in the contest. Setter Emory Moore tallied 24 assists, while Siskin notched four service aces.
For the Leopards, Mbeche-Odhiambo and Destiny McKenzie paced the offense with nine and eight kills. Defensively, Alyssa Chu was responsible for 27 receptions and 12 digs.
Lafayette returns to the court on Friday, hosting Bucknell at 7 p.m. for the opening game of Patriot League action.
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