Ithaca, Naz and Stevens Stay Perfect in E8 Play
Saturday, October 4 served as the second tri-match date of Empire 8 league play. The Ithaca College, Nazareth College and Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball teams each picked up a pair of E8 Conference victories to stay unbeaten in league play, setting up what will be an exciting final tri-match date of play on October 25.
Stevens 3, St. John Fisher 1
The Ducks dropped their opening set of Saturday's first match at Fisher, 22-25, but bounced back to secure the victory with 25-22, 25-15, 25-17 victories in the final three games. Four players for Stevens tallied at least 10 or more kills in the contest and the Ducks notched nine service aces.
Sophomore
Mary Tobin paced all players with 16 kills on a .324 hitting percentage and picked up her seventh double-double of the season with 17 digs.
Freshman
Brianna Evans was next in line in the kills department with 14 to go along with eight digs, while sophomore
Christina Sciarra posted 11 kills with four digs, an ace and block.
Senior
Katie Hall put down 10 kills in the victory with eight digs and a match-high-tying three aces. Freshman
Sydni Horner also registered three aces with three assists, but led the way defensively in the match with 27 digs.
Fellow senior
Ashley Castillo dished out a match-best 48 assists and added eight digs while junior
Annemarie Thomas chipped in six kills and a .333 hitting percentage.
Junior
Catie Shelton added five digs.
Madison Karwas ended with a team-high 10 kills, followed by
Paige Willson and
Anna Marcy who each had nine apiece.
Erin Crandall and
Katie Mazierski combined for 39 digs.
Stevens 3, Alfred 0
Stevens remained unbeaten in conference play with a sweep of the Saxons, 25-16, 25-12, 25-12. The Ducks led from the first point of the match and were only tied with Alfred four separate times. Stevens hit .261 in the contest, while the Saxons swung at a -.043 clip.
At the service line, Stevens posted 12 more aces.
Unlike the first match, no players reached double-digit kills. Evans recorded a match-high with nine, while Thomas and Sciarra each put down seven. Thomas hit .353 overall and Sciarra posted a .350 hitting percentage.
Evans also added five digs and Sciarra registered four.
Tobin chipped in six kills with four digs, while Castillo and Shelton each handed out 16 assists a piece. Shelton had three aces as well.
Horner played exceptionally well defensively with 20 digs in a three-set match. Hall, Evans and freshman
Emilee Erickson each contributed two aces.
Alfred junior
Chelsea Pietrzykowski had six kills and freshman
Aubrey Totsline had six assists for the Saxons. Freshman
Jacquelynn Hicks had four kills, a block and a pair of service aces, while senior
Taylor Kiernan added 18 digs.
St. John Fisher 3, Alfred 0
Fisher defeated AU by scores of 25-15, 25-17 and 25-17.
Marcy led the way with 11 kills for Fisher while also collecting eight digs. Karwas and Willson each chipped in eight kills, while Crandall tallied a team-high with 11 digs.
Alfred's Aubry Totsline had 16 assists, five digs and a block; Taylor Kiernan had 18 digs; Chelsea Pietrzykowski had eight kills; and Jacquelyn Hicks had a pair of blocks.
Nazareth 3, Elmira 1
Ranked first nationally in hitting percentage heading into Saturday's matches, Maria Allocco ripped off a match-high 16 kills against two hitting errors in 21 attempts for a .667 percentage against Elmira. She hit .586 in the Hartwick match (21-4-29) and improved her overall hitting percentage for the season to .482 (240-44-407).
Kassandra Buseck also hit well against Elmira with 15 kills and just four errors in 26 attempts for a .423 percentage. Olivia Harrigan added 11 kills with three hitting errors in 31 attempts (.258). Sophomore setter
Madi Wickens contributed 37 assists, while sophomore libero had
Maureen Thayer had a match-high 20 digs with four service aces.
Buseck had five kills in the first set and Allocco added four as Nazareth pulled away. Elmira took a close second set as Nazareth committed nine hitting errors. The Golden Flyers were much more efficient in sets three and four as they combined to hit .455 (31-6-55) to seal the match. Nazareth scored the final six points of the fourth set with senior
Katherine Race serving, including an ace on match point.
Ashley Heiman led the Elmira offense with 10 kills on 22 attempts for a hitting percentage of .318. Third-year setter
Sami Hanes '16 logged 24 kills along with 10 digs while fellow classmate
Kelsey Ross '16 recorded a team-leading 12 digs.
Nazareth 3, Hartwick 1
In the Hartwick match, Harrigan combined 11 kills with 17 digs and Wickens had 45 assists. After splitting the first two sets against the Hawks, the Golden Flyers dominated the third set with a .395 hitting percentage (17-2-38) as Allocco buried six kills and Harrigan five. Freshman
Abigail Shields contributed three kills in the fourth set as Nazareth closed out the Hawks.
Kayla Baril led Hartwick offensively with 13 kills. Rosa Maun finished with nine kills while hitting .600 for the match. Dana Martin had nine kills and a team-high 14 digs.
Quincy Kinzel contributed 32 assists and 10 digs.
Elmira College 3, Hartwick College 2
The second match of the day proved to be a special one for Elmira as the Purple and Gold snapped a 13-match losing streak in a thrilling five setter (22-25, 25-23, 28-30, 27-25, 16-14).
Three Elmira players logged double-digit kills, including Heiman who had a career-high 17 kills. Paola Ortiz and Kierstin Derr were the other two with double-digit kills as they recorded 15 and 12, respectively. Hanes orchestrated the Elmira offense with a season-high 49 assists.
Defensively, Kelsey Ross led Elmira with 18 digs while Samantha Hawksley made a career-high 17 digs.
Amanda Blinkinsop '16 and Derr also logged 14 digs apiece.
Hartwick's Dana Martin recorded a double-double with a team-high 15 kills and 15 digs. Kayla Baril ended the match with 14 a season-high kills and nine digs.
Alyssa Zeitler led the defense with a career-high 25 digs. Kinzel had a career-high 45 assists and she accumulated 15 digs.
Maun registered nine kills and
Mary Beth DeCuyke contributed eight.
Ithaca 3, Houghton 2
Ithaca rallied to win the match in five sets. Houghton won the first set convincingly, then Ithaca answered with a 25-17 win in the second set. After the Highlanders won 25-20 in the third set, Ithaca closed things out with a 25-22 win and then won the tight fifth set by a 15-13 score.
Rylie Bean totaled 18 kills in the match, her second time this season hitting that mark, and
Joelle Goldstein had a career-high 16 kills. Setter
Kayla Gromen had a career-high 46 assists.
Katie Hartman had three solo blocks and two block assists. Other defensive standouts were
Maggie Mutschler with 16 digs and
Myan Idziur with 11.
Both
Hattie Burgher and
Hannah Compeau were credited with double-doubles for Houghton; Burgher with 11 kills and 21 digs, Compeau with 10 kills and 16 digs.
Laurel Wroblicky contributed with 19 digs, while setter
Anna Coryell had 36 assists.
Ithaca 3, Utica 0
Ithaca opened the afternoon with a 3-0 victory over the Pioneers by the scores of 25-18, 25-19 and 25-22.
Ithaca hit .290 for the match in a sweep of Utica.
Joelle Goldstein and
Rylie Bean had nine kills each.
Kayla Gromen had 25 assists and
Molly Brown had 13 assists.
Myan Idziur led Ithaca with 11 digs, and
Katie Hartman had two blocks, one solo and one assisted.
Alaina Wickwire paced the Pioneers with a team-best eight kills.
Lora Allen and Brandi Blazek each added four kills apiece, while
Ashley Jones picked up six kills and
Laura Homer-Gunther registered five kills. Homer-Gunther also picked up six blocks (two solo). Allen finished game one with 17 assists.
Briona Enny had a team-high 12 kills in the opener.
Houghton 3, Utica 0
Houghton won 3-0, by the scores of 25-18, 25-13 and 25-22.
Brandi Blazek led Utica with ten kills in game two.
Lora Allen added 19 assists and a team-best two service aces.
Alaina Wickwire chipped in with four kills and eight digs, while
Ashley Jones and Allen collected a combined six kills.
Briona Enny also added a team-high 12 digs for the Pioneers.
Houghton's Hattie Burgher led the Highlanders with 11 kills and 20 digs, while Anna Coryell added 20 assists and three kills.
Laurel Wroblicky had 23 digs, followed by Hannah Compeau with 14.