COLUMBUS, Ohio – The homestanding Crusaders began play at their own Capital Mid-Month Madness on Friday with a 3-0 sweeps of Albion (25-23, 25-22, 25-17) and Elizabethtown (25-21, 25-11, 25-17) at the Capital Center. With the wins, CU extended its winning streak to six consecutive matches and improved to 13-2 overall on the season.
Capital out hit Albion .264 to .148 including a .227 to .023 margin in the third set to open the day. The duo of senior Kara Guster (Orrville, Ohio/Orrville HS) and junior Jenna Zumberger (DeGraff, Ohio/Fairlawn HS) dished out 26 and 14 assists respectively as the Crusader won their fifth consecutive match.
Junior middle blocker Allison Hostetler (Dalton, Ohio/Dalton HS) posted a team-high 11 kills while hitting at a .360 clip to go along with six blocks. She was supported defensively by senior Jackie Helm (Lancaster, Ohio/Fisher Catholic HS) who finished with 13 digs, five blocks and eight kills.
Senior libero Sara Doebel (Clyde, Ohio/Clyde HS) led all players with 14 digs while classmate Kelly Steinman (New Bremen, Ohio/New Bremen HS) came off the bench to tally nine kills and four blocks.
CU also took advantage of six service errors as Zumberger and freshman Emily Heitmeyer (Ottawa, Ohio/Ottawa Glandorf HS) had two apiece while Guster and Doebel each picked up one of their own.
In the nightcap, Capital pulled away from a 17-all tie in the first set to win 25-21 before riding the emotion from its student section to cruise in the final two sets of the match in the win over Elizabethtown.
Zumberger and Guster controlled play once again as the Crusaders out hit the Blue Jays, .419 to .165. Zumberger posted 17 assists to go along with three service aces and six digs while Guster finished with 16 assist, seven digs and one block.
Junior Sarah Gallik (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston HS) hit .562 with nine kills, one block and for digs to pace the CU offensive attack. Hostetler followed with eight kills while hitting at a .353 clip and added four blocks.
Doebel led all players for the second match in a row with 13 digs and Capital used four service aces by Heitmeyer and two more from Helm to run past Elizabethtown in the final two sets.
Capital returns to action on Saturday as it plays host to #25 Mount St. Joseph at 11 a.m. ET and Nazareth at 1 p.m. ET.