Elmira, Houghton, Naz and Stevens Win on Friday Night
Nazareth 3, Ithaca 0
Nazareth defeated visiting Ithaca in three sets in a women's Empire 8 Conference volleyball match on Friday evening. Nazareth defeated the Bombers by the scores of 25-14, 25-12, 25-13. Junior
Maria Allocco finished with a match-high hitting percentage of .615 as she converted nine kills and had only one attack error in 13 attempts.
With the victory, Nazareth improves to 3-1 in conference matches and 15-4 overall. Following the loss, Ithaca drops to 1-2 in Empire 8 matches and 8-13 overall.
Junior Olivia Harrigan finished with a match-high 11 kills, and classmate
Kassandra Buseck added seven kills on 15 attempts with no errors. Chelsea Beecher and Jennifer Hicks finished with five kills and three kills, respectively. Madi Wickens directed the efficient offensive attack and amassed a match-high 27 assists. She also finished with four aces. Nazareth recorded an 11-2 advantage in service aces.
Defensively, the Golden Flyers forced the Bombers into 20 hitting errors and only allowed 18 kills. Thayer led all players with nine digs while Harrigan had eight digs and Wickens had six.
Shaelynn Schmidt tallied a team-high eight kills for Ithaca. Molly Brown recorded 13 assists and six digs to lead the Bombers in both categories.
Elmira 3, Hartwick 2
The Elmira College women's volleyball team (13-7, 2-1 E8) had their backs against the wall in day one of the Empire 8 Crossover as they trailed 14-13 in the fifth set, but a pair of blocks from
Taryn Rumsey and
Alicia Day propelled the Soaring Eagles to a thrilling 3-2 victory over Hartwick College (4-14, 1-3 E8).
Elmira dropped the first set 25-23, but rebounded to take the second in impressive fashion, only allowing 10 points. The Soaring Eagles pulled out a close 26-24 third set and carried the momentum into the fourth set as they looked to close the match. EC jumped out to a lead in the fourth set, but the Hawks rallied for a 25-20 win, forcing the deciding fifth set.
The Soaring Eagles were led offensively by Rumsey who recorded 32 kills and two aces while
Kierstin Derr '16 chipped in 12 kills on the night.
Sami Hanes '16 set her teammates up all match long, tallying 48 assists. On the defensive side,
Catherine Miller '14 was one of five EC players to notch double-digit dig totals, pacing the Purple and Gold with 32 in the match. Rumsey led the team in blocks, with two solo blocks and five block assists, while Day was close behind with one solo block and four block assists.
Hannah Strom had a team-high 13 kills with seven digs to lead Hartwick.
Hannah Armstrong also earned a double-double with 19 assists and 11 digs to go along with six kills and
Quincy Kinzel added 18 assists.
Christina Vitale finished with 10 digs and
Taylor Vonasek had a hand in five Hartwick blocks while contributing six kills.
Stevens 3, St. John FIsher 1
The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team raised its record to 17-4 overall and 4-0 in the Empire 8 Conference with a 3-1 win against St. John Fisher College in the Empire 8 crossover at Elmira College on Friday afternoon.
The Ducks rolled through their three set victories, 25-18, 25-14, 25-10, and lost the second set, 25-19. Stevens outhit Fisher by nearly .130 points (.203 to .075) and used eight solo blocks to come away with its 10th neutral site win of the season. Three Ducks went over 11 kills apiece, while three others eclipsed 15 digs.
Senior
Samantha Gates posted a solid statistical match with 46 assists to lead all players with nine digs and three solo blocks. Junior
Katie Hall led Stevens with 13 kills on a .233 hitting percentage to go along with five digs and a block.
Junior
Kirsten Salmins performed well in the backline with a match-high 25 digs and sophomore
Catie Shelton pitched in 15 more digs.
Fisher senior Rachael Kline had a monster game, smashing 17 kills in 31 attempts for a .516 hitting percentage. She also had three digs to go along with three blocks.
Megan Miller tallied nine kills and 11 digs, while
Andrea Gillespie notched 10 digs in the loss.
Erica Stickler and
Ali Mann paced Fisher's offense with 20 and 15 assists, respectively.
Houghton 3, Alfred 0
In day one of the Elmira Empire 8 Crossover, the Houghton Volleyball team had a solid 3-0 win over the Saxons of Alfred University. Tonight's victory over AU was a big milestone in Head Coach Nancy Cole's coaching career, giving her a well-deserved 300
thwin.
In tonight's contest,
Hattie Burgher had 13 kills and 7 digs,
Hannah Compeau had 6 kills, 9 digs, and 3 aces, while
Laurel Wroblicky had 12 digs.
Senior
Paige Jensen paced AU with six kills and six digs, while junior
Taylor Kiernan had 18 digs.
Senior Core' Oppliger (Neuchatel, Switzerland/Lycee Jean-Piaget) had four kills and five blocks; senior Samantha Wood (Newfield, NY/Newfield) had five kills); freshman Mary Lou Patnaude (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston lake) had four kills and four digs); and senior Janelle Gallipeau (Rochester, NY/Greece Olympia) had 20 assists.