The Empire 8 Volleyball Crossover concludes today at Ithaca with five teams shooting for the top seed and the four spots in the Empire 8 Volleyball Championship in two weeks. The top seed earns the right to host the championship tournament.
Rochester Institute of Technology (5-1 conference), despite suffering its first Empire 8 loss last night to Nazareth College (4-2), is the only team guaranteed to earn the top seed with two wins today. The task will not be easy for the Tigers as they face Elmira College (5-1), winners of 10 straight matches, and St. John Fisher College (2-4), which defeated RIT in a non-conference match last week.
Elmira can earn the top seed with wins over RIT and Nazareth, and one Ithaca loss. However, the Soaring Eagles could also miss the tournament entirely if they lose both matches,
Ithaca College (5-1) can earn the top seed with wins over Alfred University (1-5) and three-time defending champion Stevens Institute of Technology (4-2), which has won 14 consecutive matches to improve to 26-4 this season.
Nazareth can seal its spot in the championship tournament with wins over Utica College (0-6) and Elmira.
There is also a possibility that all five teams could finish round robin play with a 6-2 record and a series of tie-breakers would determine the order of finish, including the top-seeded host and the team to fail to make the tournament. The tiebreakers can be found on the volleyball sport page.