Houghton, Naz and Stevens Win, 3-1

10/16/2013 10:53:00 PM

Nazareth 3, Buffalo State 1
Visiting Nazareth defeated Buffalo State in four sets in a non-conference women's volleyball match on Wednesday evening. The Golden Flyers defeated the Bengals by the scores of 25-22, 14-25, 25-22, 27-25. Junior Kassandra Buseck and sophomore Jennifer Hicks had 15 kills and 13 kills respectively to lead Nazareth's attack.

With the victory, the Golden Flyers overcome their loss to the Bengals during the Purple & Gold Invitational Oxct. 5 and improve to 21-6 overall. Wednesday's victory is the sixth in a row for Nazareth. Buffalo State falls to 17-8 with the loss.

In addition to the kills from Buseck and Hicks, junior Maria Allocco tallied 11 kills while classmates Olivia Harrigan and Chelsea Beecher combined for 13 kills. Freshman Madi Wickens amassed 35 assists to direct Nazareth's offense. Defensively, freshman Maureen Thayer and Beecher thwarted many of the Bengals' attacks. Thayer finished with a match-high 23 digs and Beecher recorded 12 digs.

Hannah Renaldo had 11 kills to lead Buffalo State's attack. Kelley Bashore recorded 34 assists, and Chelsea Moore amassed a team-high 20 digs.

The Golden Flyers are in action again next weekend when Nazareth hosts the Empire 8 Crossover, October 25th-26th. The Golden Flyers' first match is against Elmira on Friday at 7 p.m.


Houghton 3, Geneseo 1
With a match score of 3-1, the Houghton Volleyball team claimed a victory over the Knights of SUNY Geneseo.

The Highlanders opened up the match with a 25-17 victory in the first set. In the second match, the Highlanders lost with a close score of 25-20. However, this did not hold them back from claiming two more wins in sets three and four.

On the offensive end, 7 of the 9 Highlanders that played in tonight's match contributed with kills. Of the top three were Hannah Compeau with 13 kills, Hattie Burgher with 10 kills, and Meagan Palm with 8 kills. 

The defensive portion of the game was no different; a solid team effort. With 99 total team digs, Laurel Wroblicky  was responsible for 34 of them, Burgher for 22, Compeau and Jaime Green  both responsible for 12, and Alyssa Quimby for 11.

Burgher, Compeau, and Green each claimed a double-double. 


Stevens 3, Vassar 1
The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team improved to 21-5 overall on the season with a 3-1 victory over Vassar College in Canavan Arena on Wednesday evening. Tonight's match was the final regular season match for Stevens as the team honored its three seniors on the roster for the 2013 season.

The Ducks took down Vassar (15-12), 25-22, 23-25, 25-15, 25-14, for their sixth win in the last eight matches and second triumph over the Brewers this year. Stevens hit .282 in the match and tallied a .294, .484 and .371 hitting percentage in its three set wins.

In the three sets Stevens prevailed, the team recorded 46 kills to just eight attack errors, compared to seven kills and eight errors in the second set loss.

Senior Mary Caulson paced Stevens offensively with 15 kills (a match-tying-best) on 35 swings for a .343 hitting percentage and added five digs with two blocks. Caulson accounted for 17 points on the evening to lead Stevens in that category. Classmate Samantha Gates handed out a match-high 43 assists with nine digs and three service aces. 

Freshman Christina Sciarra hit at a .444 clip with 14 kills on 27 attempts, while junior Katie Hall chipped in nine kills and four digs.

Junior Kirsten Salmins  posted a match-high 24 digs and sophomore Catie Shelton added 10 more digs.

Sophomore Kristen Herchenroder contributed five kills on 10 attempts with no errors. In the fourth set, Herchenroder held serve for seven-straight Stevens points that put the match away that pushed the Ducks' lead of 18-12 to 24-13.

Senior Lindsay Stoll added a kill and a block assist.


Oswego 3, St. John Fisher 2
The St. John Fisher College volleyball forced a fifth and deciding set after a 25-10 win in the fourth frame, but the Oswego State Lakers jumped out to an early lead in the final frame en route to a 3-2 win Wednesday night at Bobby Wanzer Court.

The Cardinals, who celebrated senior night before the game now move to 12-14, while Oswego State improves to 13-11 on the season.

After swapping wins in the first and second sets, the Cardinals sprinted out to an 8-4 lead in the third set.  The Lakers would regroup, however, scoring 14 of the game's next 18 points to jump out to an 18-10 lead.  Back-and-forth the scoring went until the home team mounted a comeback of its own as the Cardinals would bring the score to within two, forcing the visiting Lakers to call a timeout.  Fisher continued to apply the pressure, tying the game at 28-28, but two late errors would be the difference, as Oswego State squeaked out the 30-28 win.

Down two sets to one, Fisher exploded in the fourth set.  Three straight kills by Mandi Mereness gave way to a 10-3 lead for Fisher forcing Oswego State to use one of its timeouts.  The break in action did little to slow Fisher's momentum.  The Cardinals continued to pour it on, extending its lead to 19-5.  Oswego would score two quick points, but the Cardinals scored the final three points to force the deciding set.

In the final frame, the Cardinals fell behind early and were unable to overcome the deficit as the Lakers marched to a 15-7 win and the match.

Rachael Kline had a big night as the senior clubbed 15 kills and accounted for five blocks.  Mereness collected 10 kills, while Brooke Meader tallied seven kills to go along with five digs.  Andrea Gillespieregistered 14 digs and two service aces.  Jessica Simonetti came up with 15 digs in the loss.  TeammateErica Stickler tallied the double-double, tallying a game-high 45 assists and 16 digs.