A matchup of two volleyball teams receiving votes in the Division III poll lived up to its billing, with Carnegie Mellon outlasting Muhlenberg in five sets.
The teams battled for nearly two-and-a-half hours and tied an unbreakable record for closest five-set match. Each set was decided by two points, and with the exception of a stretch in the second set in which the Tartans opened up a 20-12 lead, neither team ever held a lead of more than five points.
The result marred a milestone night for Mule senior
Shannon Hubert, who recorded a career-high 56 assists to surpass the 3,000-mark for her career. Hubert also matched her career best with 25 digs.
Senior
Kelly Tornetta (21) and junior
Laura Boll (20) set career highs in digs, each tying for the team lead with 17 kills. Sophomore
Maya Illovsky gave Muhlenberg (8-2) a fourth player with 20 or more digs.
The Mules also had four players with double figures in kills, with juniors
Maggie Enestvedt (15) and
Madison Forrest (13) joining Tornetta and Boll. Forrest's career-high 13 kills came on only 25 attempts.
Muhlenberg scored the final four points, two on kills by Boll, to steal the first set, 26-24. The Tartans (4-5), who were ranked as high as sixth in Division III last year, held off a late charge by the Mules to take the second set, then scored the last three points of the third set to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Mules trailed 22-21 in the fourth set before back-to-back aces by sophomore
Rebecca Shear put them within a point of forcing a fifth set. Tornetta did just that with a kill.
Muhlenberg opened up an 11-8 lead in the fifth set, but Carnegie Mellon came right back with the next three points to tie. It was 14-14 before the Tartans scored the next two points to end the match.
Of the Mules' first 10 matches, five have gone to five sets. They played six five-setters all last year.
Hubert set herself up for another milestone when the team hosts Franklin & Marshall and SUNY Cortland on Saturday. With 3,024 career assists, she is just 47 away from the school record set 17 years ago by Laura Funsten. Tornetta's 17 kills ran her career total to 976.
