Naz, Hartwick and Stevens Win on Day One of Crossover

9/20/2013 9:13:09 PM

Nazareth 3, Houghton 1 (Box Score)
The Golden Flyers' women's volleyball team opened the first Empire 8 cross-over of the season with a four-set victory over Houghton on Friday. The scores of the match were 25-18, 25-21, 19-25, 25-17. The cross-over is being hosted by Hartwick.

With the victory, Nazareth improves to 12-3 overall. The Highlanders fall to 7-2 overall with the loss. The Golden Flyers' victory snapped Houghton's four-match win streak. The Highlanders are currently a provisional member of the Empire 8 conference.

Juniors Maria Allocco and Chelsea Beecher recorded 10 kills apiece to lead Nazareth's offensive attack. Classmate Kassandra Buseck, coming off her match-high 12-kill performance on Wednesday against Fredonia, finished with eight kills. Sophomore Melissa Kline added seven kills, and she also finished with a match-high three service aces.

Freshman Madi Wickens recorded 24 assists as the Golden Flyers' primary setter. Fellow freshman Maureen Thayer also had eight assists.

Meagan Palm finished with a match-high 11 kills for Houghton. Jaime Green had 33 assists and 13 digs. Laurel Wroblicky amassed an incredible match-high 40 digs to lead all players.


Hartwick 3, Utica 2 (Box Score)
Hartwick outscored visiting Utica 15-4 in the fifth and deciding game as the Hawks came away with a win in the opening match of their conference schedule Friday night at the Empire 8 Conference Crossover plated in Lambros Arena.

Sophomore Taylor Vonasek erupted for a career- and match-high 15 kills to pace the Hawks in the match. Sophomore Hannah Strom added 13 kills and 10 digs and Quincy Kinzel closed out the match with a career-best 40 assists.

Hartwick would grab one-game leads twice in the match but each time the visiting Pioneers would battle back to even the match. The Hawks took the first game by a final score of 25-21 before UC took the second, 25-17. 'Wick would edge out their opponents, 25-23, in the third game but Utica would return the favor in the fourth by the exact same score to force the deciding game.

After the two teams split the first two points of the final game, a Mohan kill would put the Hawks up for good. A 'Wick 5-0 run opened up a 6-1 lead.

The Pioneers scored two of the next three points and called timeout down 7-3. They would add another point on a kill following the break. That would be it for the UC scoring, however, as Hartwick would rattle of the final eight points for the victory.

Utica was led by Brandi Blaszak' 12 kills. Cassandra Manzer recorded 11. Briona Enny earned a match-high 18 digs for the Pioneers.


Stevens 3, Ithaca 1 (Box Score)
In the first Empire 8 Conference match of the season, the Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team came away with a 3-1 victory over Ithaca College to improve to 13-1 on the season. The match was played at Hartwick College as part of the first of two Empire 8 crossovers this fall.

The Ducks rolled past the Bombers (5-8) in two of the four sets and completed the win with set scores of 25-22, 25-15, 22-25, 25-10. Stevens posted 16 service aces in the match and hit .400 (18 kills-four errors-35 attempts) in set four to secure the win.

In set two, Stevens started on a 4-0 run to force Ithaca to burn a timeout. After the break, the Ducks put up four more points which made the Bombers use their second and final timeout of the set. Stevens would push its lead out to 14-0 before Ithaca could get on the board and then coasted to a 25-15 win.

In the fourth set, both teams traded points up to a 3-3 deadlock, but the Ducks would ice the match with a 22-7 run the rest of the way.

Junior Katie Hall put together the best performance on either side of the net with 18 points on nine kills, seven service aces and four total blocks (all assisted). Senior Mary Caulson was right behind Hall with 17 points by the way of 16 kills and 12 digs.

Freshmen Christina Sciarra and Mary Tobin also registered double-digit kills with 13 and 11, respectively. Sciarra added three blocks, while Tobin chipped in 14 digs.

Senior Samantha Gates handed out 46 assists with four digs and four aces. Junior Kirsten Salmins picked up her eighth 20-plus dig performance with 24 in the match.

Offensively, Ithaca was led by rookie Shaelynn Schmidt with 12 kills, while juniors Rylie Bean and Abbie Hutchinson added six and five, respectively. Freshman Molly Brown set for 14 assists and sophomore Carly Garone chipped in 12. Sophomore Dylan Gawinski Stern led Ithaca defensively with 12 digs and freshman Grace Chang added 11.


Brockport 3, St. John Fisher 0 (Box Score)
The St. John Fisher College volleyball team fell in three sets Friday 25-17, 27-25, 25-19 against the College of Brockport at Bobby Wanzer Court.

The Golden Eagles stormed out of the gates taking seventeen of the first twenty-five points, going on to take set one .  Fisher came out strong in the second set taking an 8-4 lead but Brockport was able to slowly close the gap, eventually tying the score at 23, and taking the set 27-25.

Rachel Kline had nine kills on the day, while Jasmine Davis and Mandi Mereness both added three apiece. Erin Crandall had 18 digs while Megan Miller had 14 digs.


Elmira v Geneseo | Oswego
The Elmira College women's volleyball team (8-3) dropped their first two games at the Oswego State University Invitational Friday evening, losing to SUNY Geneseo 3-0 in the first game and then losing to the host, Oswego State, in a five-set thriller in the nightcap. 

In game one of the double-header, the Soaring Eagles took on the Geneseo Knights. The Knights jumped on EC early as they took the first set 25-11. Elmira would regroup in the second set, but they would go on to lose, 25-21. The third set was all Geneseo as they swept the match 3-0 by winning the third set 25-13.

Elmira was led offensively by Kierstin Derr '16 and Sami Hanes '16. Derr led the team with seven kills while Hanes chipped in 11 assists. On defense, Catherine Miller '14 led EC with nine digs while Ashley Heiman '16 totaled three blocks (two solo, one assist).

In the second game of the invitational, the Soaring Eagles squared off against the host, Oswego State. Similar to the first match, Oswego jumped out to a two-sets-to-none lead, defeating EC 25-23 and 25-22. Elmira would rally back in this match, however, as they took the next two sets to tie up the score 2-2. They won the third set in what appeared to be a blowout compared to the other sets, 25-18, and then won the fourth set in a 27-25 nail-biter. The match came down to the fifth and final set which, like every other set was close. Oswego would edge out Elmira 15-12 in the final set to seal the victory.

The Soaring Eagles were led in this game by reigning Empire 8 Conference Player of the Week, Taryn Rumsey '14. Rumsey had 29 kills in the game with a .344 hitting percentage. Also chipping in offensively was Sami Hanes '16. Hanes led the way with 46 assists and tied for the team lead in aces with four. Defensively, EC was led by Catherine Miller '14 and Alicia Day '17. Miller recorded 18 digs while Day had four blocks (one solo, three assists).