NORTHFIELD, Vt. - The Norwich University women's volleyball team defeated the Spartans of Castleton College on Wednesday night by a clean 3-0 score on Senior Night in Andrews Hall Gymnasium.

The Cadets were in control for most of the match, jumping out right away to a 1-0 lead with a dominant opening set. Timely service aces by senior Katie Crane (Avon, N.Y.) and Emily Oliver (Sagamore Hills, Ohio) helped keep momentum on the Cadets side throughout the set as NU rolled to a 25-17 win.

Set two saw Castleton come roaring out of the gate with a vengeance, as the Spartans jumped all over the Cadets to the tune of a 9-3 lead midway through set number two. After a timeout, however, the Cadets rallied to rattle off an 11-1 run to make it 14-10. Norwich didn't look back, taking the second set by a 25-14 score.

The third set of the match proved to be the deciding one, as Norwich controlled the action throughout before putting a punctuation on their 2017 home season with a vicious kill off the right hand of Julia Schroeder (Victorville, Calif.) to take the set 25-19 and the game 3-0.

Leading the Cadets offensively was freshman Kathryn Farnum (North Andover, Mass.) who continues her recent streak of fine play, racking up 10 kills and 10 digs for a neat double-double. Schroeder had an excellent game as well with 7 kills and a team-leading 3 service aces on a magnificent .462 attacking percentage. Defensively, Brianna Dawson (Katonah, N.Y.) had a career night with an outstanding total of 31 digs, which puts the young libero in a three-way tie for the second most digs in a single game in program history. Only Kristen Brewer had more when she put up 32 digs against Smith College in 2015.

Despite all those tremendous individual performances, all eyes were on senior Katie Crane tonight. In her last game wearing a Cadets jersey in Andrews Hall, Katie put together a fine performance providing timely assists and a few momentum turning services aces. On the night, she finished with a team-leading 17 assists, had 2 service aces, and chipped in a dig as well. 

The win brings Norwich's overall record up to 11-13 on the year. Norwich will hit the road on Saturday, hoping to finish off their 2017 season on a high note. They will square off with Anna Maria College and Lasell College in a Great Northeast Conference (GNAC) tri-match set to tip off at 1:00 P.M. at Lasell.