Alfred, Houghton, Ithaca and Naz Each Win
ITHACA
The Ithaca College volleyball team opened its weekend of matches with a three-set victory over Mount Saint Vincent on Friday night at the Ramapo Roadrunner Invitational. Set scores were 26-24, 25-9, 25-15. The Bombers are 6-2 on the season, which is the team's best start through eight matches since 2007, when the team started the year with an 8-0 record.
The first set was the closest of the match. Ithaca trailed 22-19, but closed by winning seven of the final nine points to claim a 26-24 win. Ithaca cruised in the final two sets for the victory.
Joelle Goldstein led Ithaca with 13 kills in the match and hit .357. Dylan Gawinski Stern had nine kills on 22 attacks for a .273 percentage. Molly Brown had 18 assists and Carly Garone had 12 assists.
Maggie Mutschler has four aces, Rylie Bean had three aces and Myan Isziur has two. Defensively, Kayla Gromen had 15 digs and Mutschler added 10. Breanne Tuohy and Caroline Gerulskis each had a solo block. Siobhan Sorensen and Gawinski Stern each had two block assists.
NAZARETH
The Nazareth women's volleyball team stretched its winning streak to six matches on Friday night with a three-set victory over Skidmore in its opening match then the Golden Flyers defeated Cortland in four sets. The scores against Skidmore were 25-22, 25-10, 25-23, and the scores against Cortland were 25-17, 24-26, 25-12, 25-21. Nazareth resumes action at the Union Invitational with a pair of matches on Saturday.
Following the matches, the Golden Flyers improve to 6-4 overall with the victory. With the loss, Skidmore slips to 2-5 overall. Cortland slides to 5-6 overall following its loss.
In its match against Skidmore, Nazareth finished with hitting percentages of .242, .259, and .270 as the Golden Flyers amassed at least 10 kills in each set against the Thoroughbreds. Senior
Olivia Harrigan tallied a match-high 15 kills on 32 attempts with only three errors. In addition to the kills from Harrigan, senior
Maria Allocco and junior
Jennifer Hicks each recorded eight kills while senior
Kassandra Buseck finished with seven kills. Sophomores
Cady Messmer and
Brianna Spears and freshmen
Mallory Cobb and
Abigail Shields each chipped in one kill apiece. The majority of the Golden Flyers' attacks were directed by sophomore
Madi Wickens, who finished with 20 assists. Classmate
Maureen Thayer finished with 10 assists.
Nazareth finished the match with a 13-8 advantage in service aces. Wickens, Allocco, and Thayer each had three service aces while Harrigan had two aces and Hicks and Buseck each added one.
Defensively, 10 Nazareth players recorded multiple digs to thwart Skidmore attacks. Messmer and Thayer tallied five digs apiece to lead the team, followed by senior
Katherine Race, Harrigan, Buseck, and freshman
Caroline Auricchio, who each recorded four digs. The Golden Flyers allowed only 14 kills and forced 10 hitting errors to frustrate the Thoroughbreds throughout the match. Skidmore finished with hitting percentages of .200 (8 kills, 3 errors), -.125 (2 kills, 5 errors), and .118 (4 kills, 2 errors) in the three-set match.
Against Cortland, Nazareth's balanced attack had four players with at least 11 kills. Buseck amassed a match-high 20 kills on 37 attempts with 10 errors. Hicks recorded 14 kills while Harrigan and Allocco each had 11 kills. Wickens and Messmer also added four kills apiece. As the Golden Flyers' primary setter, Wickens finished with 55 assists. Nazareth recorded hitting percentages of .257, .393, .263, and .297 as the Golden Flyers tallied at least 14 kills in each set.
Thayer and Buseck finished in double-figures in digs with 16 and 10, respectively, and Wickens contributed nine digs. At the net, Hicks had a pair of solo blocks and a pair of assisted blocks to stymie the Red Dragons' attack. Harrigan also had two assisted blocks. Buseck and Allocco each had one assisted block. The Golden Flyers held Cortland to 28 kills and forced 20 hitting errors over the course of the match. The Red Dragons finished with hitting percentages of .080 (7 kills, 5 errors), .120 (8 kills, 5 errors), -.125 (3 kills, 6 errors), and ,214 (10 kills, 4 errors).
Similar to its match against Skidmore, Nazareth used an advantage in service aces in its victory. Against Cortland, the Golden Flyers recorded an 11-5 advantage. Race tallied three service aces, and Allocco, Harrigan, and Buseck added two aces apiece.
HOUGHTON
In day 1 of the Lycoming Tournament, the Highlander Volleyball team split the two matches--beating the Lycoming College Warriors 3-2, followed by a 0-3 loss to the Crusaders of Susquehanna University.
The first match of the day against the Warriors was point for point, set win for set win. Set 1 against the warriors was a big win for the Highlanders, setting the tone for the entire match. The score was close until the Highlanders scored 5 point in a row, taking the momentum. After losing the second set 19-25, the Highlanders were able to come back 25-15 in the third match. The first three points of the third set were all a result of kills by
Hattie Burgher.
Meagan Palm,
Naomi Prentice, and
Hannah Compeau also contributed with kills that put the Highlanders ahead at a rapid pace.
Tied at numerous times in the fourth set, it was a nail-biter to the very end. A kill by Palm tied the set 22-22, followed by a Lycoming point that put the Warriors ahead. Prentice would then tie the game again 23-23 with a kill of her own. Unfortunately the Warriors were able to come out with the 25-23 win. The fifth and final set was very similar to that of the fourth--neck and neck--but with a different outcome, Highlanders winning 17-15. After trading-off the set wins, the Highlanders were credited with the 3-2 victory.
Burgher was credited with a double-double, having 14 kills and 14 digs. Palm contributed with 17 kills, while Compeau and Prentice earned 12 digs each.
Laurel Wroblicky led the way defensively with 20 digs.
While the first match was in favor of the Highlanders, the second match against Susquehanna was not. Houghton was unable to gain momentum in the match, allowing for the Crusaders to come out with the 3-0 win. The Crusaders had more than double to amount of Highlander kills.
Palm earned 10 kills against Susquehanna--while on the defensive-side, Wroblicky earned 17 digs.
ALFRED
The Alfred University women's volleyball team split a pair of matches Friday evening on the first day of action at the SUNY Oswego Tournament.
AU opened the tournament with a 3-0 loss to Potsdam, then rebounded to take a 3-0 decision from Bard.
AU (3-7) lost to Potsdam by scores of 25-20, 25-6, and 25-17. The Saxons were led by freshman
Chelsea Pietrzykowski (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua) with six kills and freshman
Aubrey Totsline (Rochester, NY/Fairport) with 12 assists.
Freshman
Heather D'Andrea (Erie, PA/Mercyhurst Prep) had three kills and six digs; senior
Taylor Kiernan (Pastchogue, NY/Patchogue-Medford) had 10 digs; and sophomore
Mary Lou Patnaude (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) chipped in with eight digs and a pair of blocks.
AU took the first two sets against Bard (25-19 and 25-11), lost the third (25-14) then clinched the match with a 25-18 win in the fourth. Sophomore
Valerie Cardillo (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) had 10 digs and three kills and DeAndrea had 11 service aces to pace the Saxons.
Patnaude had nine kills, four aces and five digs; Pietrzykowski and had five kills, six digs and three blocks; and Totsline added 25 assists.
ELMIRA
The Elmira College women's volleyball team opened play at the Lycoming College Invitational with a pair of 3-0 losses to York College of Pennsylvania (25-16, 25-13, 25-16) and Catholic University (25-16, 25-19, 25-18). Elmira will look to bounce back tomorrow morning when the Soaring Eagles begin day two of the tournament against host Lycoming College at 9:30 a.m.
Errors plagued the Soaring Eagles in their tournament opening match as the Elmira women recorded 18 hitting errors and 11 service errors compared to just 13 kills and five service aces. Alicia Day '17 led Elmira's offense with four kills while Kelsey Ross '16 spearheaded the EC defense with nine digs.
The Soaring Eagles did a better job limiting errors in their second match of the day but unfortunately the Cardinals of Catholic would prevail in three sets. As a team, Elmira logged 31 kills with Sami Hanes '16 registering assists on each EC kill. Additionally, Samantha Hawksley '16 made a career-high nine digs.
ST. JOHN FISHER
The St. John Fisher College volleyball team fell twice on Friday evening at the 26th annual Rochester Institute of Technology Volleyball Invitational.
The Cardinals move to 3-8 on the year, but have yet to open Empire 8 competition.
In the first match, No. 17 Clarkson University swept Fisher in three straight sets. The Golden Knights opened with a decisive 25-14 win before taking the second and third sets 25-16. Fisher tallied 10 errors in the loss.
Madison Karwas paced Fisher's offense with six kills, enough to lead the team in the category over the season with 78. Brooke Meader, Katie Mazierski and Megan Miller delivered five kills apiece, while Erica Stickler tallied 13 assists. On defense, Erin Crandall collected eight digs and Meader added seven.
In the nightcap against The College at Brockport, the Cardinals competed in the first set with a 25-22 score, before eventually took the three-set loss.
This time it was Amanda Miller who led the offense with seven kills. Stickler and Crandall added to their totals on the day with 18 assists and 26 digs, respectively.