Stevens Sweeps Houghton to Advance to E8 Title Match
Rob Kulish
HOBOKEN, N.J. (November 7, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team advanced to the Empire 8 Championship match with a 3-0 sweep of fourth-seeded Houghton College Friday afternoon in the Canavan Arena.
The top-seeded Ducks will face second-seeded Nazareth College for the Empire 8 title and an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship. Nazareth knocked off third-seeded Ithaca by a score of 3-0 as well.
With the win, the Ducks improved to 30-6 on the season and reach the conference title match for a second-straight year. The set scores were 26-24, 25-18 and 25-18, all in favor of Stevens.
First Set
The two teams were tied at five-all before a 3-0 run from the Ducks made it 8-5 Stevens following a kill from sophomore
Mary Tobin. Houghton came back to tie things at nine before the Ducks rebounded with a nice 6-3 run to open a 15-12 margin. Freshman
Brianna Evans had three kills for the Ducks in the spurt.
The lead eventually swelled to six (20-14), but the Highlanders roared back to take a 23-22 lead, forcing the Ducks to take a timeout.
Houghton was able to generate one chance at set point, but a kill from Evans tied things at 24 and an attack error gave the Ducks the chance at the set and they did not let it slip away as senior setter
Ashley Castillo assisted Evans' set-clinching tally.
Second Set
The Ducks took control of the second set, taking a 4-0 lead early and extended the margin to 8-2 on the back of a kill from junior
Annemarie Thomas. Like the first set, Houghton fought back, eventually taking a 13-12 edge thanks to back-to-back scores from junior Hattie Burgher, but the Ducks remained calm and turned a 13-12 deficit into a 16-13 lead in large part to Tobin and strong defense from the front line.
The Highlanders would come back to tie the set at 17, but they could not get over the hump as the Ducks closed the door with an 8-1 run led by senior
Katie Hall.
Third Set
Stevens started slow in the third, staking the guests to an early 8-3 lead, but a Houghton service error seemed to spark the Ducks as they ripped off nine of the set's next 13 points to tie things at 12. At one point, with the Ducks down 12-9, freshman
Sydni Horner served Stevens to six-straight tallies to give the hosts a 15-12 lead.
Houghton was able to get within one at 15-14, but the Ducks scored the next two – one kill from Evans and one kill from Hall – to open at 17-14 lead that essentially sealed the win.
Tobin led the Ducks with 16 kills, hitting .282 and tallying 17 digs. Evans had 11 kills and 11 digs, while Hall notched five kills, hit .455, pocketed four service aces and had five block assists along with one block solo. Castillo tallied 41 assists and 15 digs, while Horner had 12 digs. Thomas and sophomore
Christina Sciarra each had seven kills with Thomas hitting .400.
Stevens had an attacking percentage of .248, while holding Houghton to .132.
Saturday's title match will start at 4 p.m. in the Canavan Arena and will be webcast live via
www.stevensducks.com. General admission is $5 and all with a Stevens ID can gain admission for free.