Golden Flyers and Soaring Eagles win twice at Crossover
Nazareth v Alfred | St. John Fisher
The Golden Flyers defeated visiting Alfred and St. John Fisher in Saturday's Empire 8 Crossover, hosted by Nazareth. The Golden Flyers defeated both teams in three sets. The scores against Alfred were 25-21, 25-19, 25-14. Against Fisher, the scores were 25-19, 25-18, 25-18.
Nazareth used a balanced attack to defeat the Saxons and the Cardinals in Saturday's matches. Against Alfred, nine players finished with at least one kill. Junior
Maria Allocco and sophomore
Melissa Kline each had seven kills to lead Nazareth. In addition to the kills from Allocco and Kline, junior
Kassandra Buseck and freshman
Cady Messmer each had six kills. Senior
Christy Burczak also added five kills. Freshman
Maureen Thayer tallied a match-high 15 assists between the second and third sets. In the first set, freshman
Madi Wickens amassed 10 assists. The Golden Flyers finished the match with 40 kills and only 11 hitting errors for a .333 attack percentage. With 13 kills and two errors, Nazareth recorded a match-high percentage of .393 in the second set.
Against St. John Fisher, Buseck and Allocco each had nine kills while Hicks and Harrigan recorded eight kills apiece. Wickens recorded 29 assists as Nazareth's primary setter. The Golden Flyers finished the match with 39 total kills and 15 hitting errors.
Elmira v Utica | Ithaca
The Elmira College women's volleyball team clinched the third seed in the Empire 8 tournament after defeating Utica College 3-0 (25-, 22, 25-25, 25-7) and Ithaca College 3-0 (25-27, 25-23, 25-23) today.
Taryn Rumsey '14 led the way for the Soaring Eagles with 28 kills, 26 digs, six aces and one block assist.
Rumsey led the team both offensively and defensively against Utica as she registered 18 kills, 15 digs, three aces and one block assist.
Ashley Heiman '16 chipped in with nine kills and one block assist while
Sami Hanes '16 set-up the attack with 34 assists.
Catherine Miller '14 posted 15 digs and three aces in the first win of the day.
Heiman and Rumsey both led the team offensively in the second game of the day after posting a combined 21 kills while Hanes helped out with 30 assists and four digs. Miller and Rumsey led the team defensively after recording a combined 26 digs.
Ithaca v Alfred | Elmira
The Ithaca College volleyball team (13-19, 4-3 Empire 8) secured the four seed in the Empire 8 Championship Tournament with a 1-1 Saturday at Nazareth. The Bombers blanked Alfred (3-23, 0-6 empire 8) 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-11), before dropping a 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-23) decision to Elmira (21-11, 4-3 Empire 8).
Freshman
Shaelynn Schmidt (Piney Point, Md./Patuxent) posted 12 kills and hit .304 to lead the Bombers offensively against the Saxons. Classmate
Molly Brown (Closter, N.J./Northern Valley Old Tappan) dished out 13 assists and sophomore
Carly Garone (East Moriches, N.Y./St. Anthony's)chipped in 11. Rookie
Myan Idziur (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) served up four aces. Three others had a pair apiece.
Garone dug six balls. Brown and freshman
Grace Chang (San Jose, Calif./Valley Christian) dug out five each.
Siobhan Sorensen (Castleton, N.Y./Maple Hill) blocked three balls (2 solo, 1 assist).
In the day's second match, Chang and Schmidt each tallied six kills to lead Ithaca. Brown set for 14 assists. Idziur dug the ball 13 times and sophomore
Dylan Gawinski Stern (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton) did so 10 times. Junior
Rylie Bean (Blasdell, N.Y./Frontier) posted four blocks.
St. John Fisher v Utica | Nazareth
The St. John Fisher College volleyball team defeated Utica College in its opening match Saturday before falling in straight sets to the Nazareth College Golden Flyers at the Empire 8 Crossover.
In its first game, the Cardinals played to a 3-1 win over the Utica Pioneers as
Rachael Kline clubbed 19 kills to move into ninth place on Fisher's all-time kills list with.
After exchanging wins in the first two sets, The Cardinals eventually pulled away from the Pioneers scoring seven unanswered points to hold a 22-14 advantage. Utica tried to keep it close, but the Cardinals held on for the win to take a 2-1 lead into the fourth set.
In what turned out to be the final frame, Fisher turned up the heat, scoring seven consecutive points including a pair of service aces from
Brooke Meader. After three quick points by Utica, Fisher would respond with another run, producing seven more points en route to a 25-14 win.
In the second game, Fisher matched up with the host team, Nazareth College. The Cardinals battled, but were unable to gain any momentum as the home team won the contest in straight sets, 19-25, 18-25, 18-25.
Kline had a combined 21 kills on the day including 19 in the win against Utica to go along with six digs.
Paige Willson picked up 16 combined kills, while
Andrea Gillespie dug up 17 balls.
Erica Stickler had a fine day, posting 28 assists and
Ali Mann tallied 30 helpers over the two game span.
Hartwick v Cazenovia
Hartwick won its third in a row and for the seventh time in its last 11 matches on Saturday in a 3-1 (25-13, 25-16, 15-25, 25-20) non-conference road victory over Cazenovia College.
Junior
Dana Martin (Chester, NY/Burke Catholic) and sophomore
Hannah Strom (Kenmore, WA/Inglemoor) each led Hartwick with nine kills.
Quincy Kinzel (Scotia, NY/Guilderland) accumulated 26 assists for the Hawks.
Hartwick was in complete control through the first two sets of the match as it limited the Wildcats to just a total of 29 points. The Hawks cruised in the first set, 25-12, and again in the second, 25-16.
Cazenovia responded in the third set to make it a two-sets-to-one match, 25-15. However, the Hawks closed the door on the comeback bid taking the third set by a margin of 25-20.
Martin hit .333 on the day with nine kills on 18 attacks with just three errors. She added six digs and a block to go along with her six aces. Strom had three aces, three digs, and a block with her nine kills.
Taylor Vonasek (Willington, CT/E.O. Smith) notched five kills in the match as did
Mary Beth DeCuyke (Johnstown, NY/Johnstown). Quinzel would also acquire six digs with her 26 assists and
Christina Vitale (Port Jefferson Station, NY/St. John the Baptist) had a team-high six digs.
Houghton v Michigan-Dearborn | Wells
Houghton opened day two of its Highlander Invitational with a 3-1 loss to Michigan-Dearborn, before bouncing back with a tournament-ending 3-0 win over Wells College.
In its opening match against Dearborn, the Highlanders won the first set 25-17, before dropping the final three 25-23, 28-26, 25-20.
Hattie Burgher (Selkirk, NY, Loudonville Christian) tallied 17 kills and 19 digs to pace the Highlanders.
Laurel Wroblicky (Irvine, CA, Northwood) had a strong performance defensively with 37 digs.
Hannah Compeau (Oxford, MI, Faith Baptist) contributed seven kills and 20 digs, while
Jaime Green (Port Huron, MI, New Life Christian) totaled 34 assists.
Houghton bounced back with an all-around team performance against Wells, winning 25-15, 25-16, 25-17. Wroblicky was again a stalwart defensively with 21 digs. Burgher added seven kills and seven digs.
Meagan Palm (Lakeland, FL, Lakeland Christian) contributed seven kills, while Green finished with 27 assists.
Burgher and Wroblicky were each named to the all-tournament team.
Stevens v Penn-State Altoona | Elizabethtown
The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team vaulted to 24-5 on the season with a pair of victories at Elizabethtown College on Saturday. Stevens won in four sets over Penn State-Altoona and then swept Elizabethtown to finish off the four-team tournament.
Saturday's tournament also included Muhlenberg College, who played Elizabethtown in the first match of the afternoon.
The Ducks took down Altoona, 25-14, 25-18, 14-25, 25-20, in the opening match and were led by 10 kills from junior
Katie Hall (Midlothian, Va.). Hall hit .500 in the match and three digs, two blocks and two service aces.
Senior
Samantha Gates (Wilmington, N.C.) handed out a match-high 42 assists with three kills and three digs. Junior
Kirsten Salmins (Wyckoff, N.J.) dug out 21 kill attempts by Altoona to pace the Ducks.
Five other Ducks tallied over five kills in the match. Sophomore
Annemarie Thomas (Durham, N.C.) recorded nine kills, while senior
Mary Caulson (West Islip, N.Y.) chipped in seven with 11 digs. Freshmen
Christina Sciarra (Montclair, N.J.) and
Becca Youngman (Rochester, N.Y.) each contributed six more kills for the Ducks. Sophomore
Kristen Herchenroder (Breezy Point, N.Y.) added five kills.
Youngman also tallied eight kills and two aces, while sophomore
Catie Shelton (Central Square, N.Y.) registered nine digs.
In the sweep of the Blue Jays, 25-10, 25-15, 25-15, Caulson and freshman
Mary Tobin (Boothwyn, Pa.) guided Stevens with 11 kills and 12 digs a piece. Gates dished out 36 more assists to go along with eight digs and two aces in the match, while Salmins picked up 27 more digs.
Sciarra and Thomas each tallied seven kills, while Hall added four more kills, five digs and four aces. Shelton posted seven digs in the sweep.
Stevens recorded 10 more aces against E'town and hit .252 to -.037 for the Blue Jays.