Volleyball Goes .500 on Saturday

Volleyball Goes .500 on Saturday

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HOUGHTON
The Highlander Volleyball team started their home opener in winning fashion, beating the Golden Eagles of Brockport 3-2, followed by a 3-0 victory over the Wells College Express.

Houghton did not waste any time in taking a 2-0 (25-16, 25-21) lead over the Golden Eagles in the first match. This lead, however, turned into a tie when Brockport took two sets back from the Highlanders; forcing a 5th set. The 5th set proved Houghton to be the better team, beating the Golden Eagles by a score of 15-8.

In the first match, Hattie Burgher had a double-double with 11 kills and 16 digs. Meagan Palm was credited with 13 kills, while Laurel Wroblicky led the way defensively with 24 digs. Setter Anna Coryell contributed with 37 assists. 

In their second match of the day, the Highlanders did not give any momentum to the Express. By defeating the Express 26-24 in the first set, the Highlanders were able to derail the Express early in the match.

The Highlanders modeled consistency by finishing the match with a 25-10 and 25-19 victory over the Express. 

Burgher contributed in the second match with 8 kills, followed by Palm with 7. Wroblicky was credited with 11 digs, followed by Alyssa Quimby with 7. 

ITHACA
The Ithaca College volleyball team earned its second split in as many days on Saturday. The Bombers earned a straight-set victory in the morning session against Baptist Bible (25-9, 25-12, 25-27), before falling to Oneonta (25-21, 19-25, 17-25, 25-19, 9-15) in five sets on the final day of the Bomber Invitational. The 1-1 mark pushes Ithaca's overall record to 5-2 on the year.

The Bombers earned their second win of the weekend with a 3-0 victory over Baptist Bible Saturday morning. Ithaca dominated throughout the straight-set victory, beating the Defenders by an average of 12 points-per-set.

Freshman Joelle Goldstein led all players with 14 kills on 20 attempts, giving her an impressive .650 kill success rate. Junior captain Dylan Gawinski Stern ranked second on the Bombers with 11 kills on 24 total attacks.

Freshman Kayla Gromen paced Ithaca with nine digs, while sophomore Maggie Mutschler contributed seven. Junior Carly Garone ranked first in the match with 19 assists. Sophomore Molly Brown ranked second on the roster with 15 assists.

Ithaca lost the final match of the weekend to Oneonta in five sets, pushing the Bombers' record to 2-2 over the two-day tournament.

Goldstein once again led all players with 14 kills. She was followed closely by Caroline Gerulskis and Gawinski Stern who recorded 12 and 14 kills, respectively. Brown paced the team with 21 assists, while Garone ranked second with 13. Gromen recorded 18 digs over the five-set match, the most of any Bomber. Gawinski Stern ranked second on the roster with 14 digs.

UTICA
The Utica College volleyball team split its twin-bill as it lost to Alfred State 3-0, before defeating host Keuka College 3-1 Saturday afternoon. 
 
In the opening game, sophomore Brandi Blaszak tallied a team-best nine kills and two blocks, while senior Alyssa Nicotera and freshman Samantha Hoerning each had six kills.  Freshman Alaina Wickwire and junior Laura Homer-Gunther combined for seven kills in match one.  Senior Briona Enny led the team with 13 digs, followed by junior Lora Allen who tallied eight digs.  Allen also added 25 assists for UC.
 
In the second match of the day, the Pioneers won 26-24, 18-25, 25-23, and 25-9 to collect a 3-1 win.  This time it was Wickwire who led the team in kills (11), followed by Homer-Gunther (10), Blaszak and Hoerning (nine) and Nicotera (eight).  Blaszak added three more blocks to her season total of 15.  Wickwire also tallied a career-high 22 digs, while Enny collected 21 of her own.  Senior Chelsea Lauria had 17 digs, and Alexis Lyon tallied 8 on the day.  Allen added 38 assists to lead the team.


STEVENS
The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball program splits its matches on the final day of the Springfield College Invitational on Saturday and are now 6-2 on the season.

Stevens notched an impressive 32 services aces on the day, including 24 in a four-set victory over Rivier University to start things off on Saturday. In the four-set loss to Amherst College, the Ducks tallied eight more aces to bring their team total to 91 on the season in 27 sets played.

The Ducks recorded their sixth consecutive victory in Saturday's opener over Rivier, 25-20, 25-11, 23-25, 25-9. After the 24 aces, Stevens also registered 63 digs, 10 total blocks and hit at a .264 clip (38K, 10E, 106A).

Freshman Brianna Evans nearly reached a triple-double against the Raiders with an incredible 11 aces to go along with 10 kills and seven digs. Sophomore Mary Tobin produced a similar stat line as Evans with 13 digs, 11 kills and seven aces, and hit .257.

Senior Ashley Castillo controlled the offense with 25 assists and added 10 digs, four kills, three blocks and two aces. Senior Katie Hall accounted for the other four aces in the match and added three kills on a .429 hitting percentage with two digs and blocks a piece.

Sophomore Christina Sciarra contributed a .320 hitting percentage on nine kills in 25 swings, while freshman Sydni Horner reached a personal-best 25 digs in her early Stevens career and chipped in three assists.

Stevens had its winning streak snapped by Amherst in the semifinals of the tournament, 25-15, 25-10, 26-28, 25-23. The Ducks struggled offensively, hitting just .102 overall, but amassed 70 digs and 17 total blocks in the set back.

Tobin recorded her second double-double of the day with 20 digs and 10 kills, while Evans came up just short with 15 digs, seven kills and three blocks.

Hall led Stevens with a .357 hitting percentage with seven kills on 14 attempts. She also added two aces, digs and blocks.

Junior Annemarie Thomas tallied seven blocks and six kills, while junior Catie Shelton stepped in at setter and dished out 22 assists with six digs.

Castillo handed out 12 assists in three sets with six digs, while Horner picked up 19 more digs and scored on five aces.

NAZARETH
Nazareth had little difficulty Saturday defeating a pair of non-conference volleyball opponents as the Golden Flyers swept all four matches at the Golden Flyer Invitational at the Kidera Gymnasium.

Nazareth used a balanced offensive attack to defeat Medaille in the first match. Scores were 25-19, 25-20, 25-16. The Golden Flyers dominated RIT in the second match by scores of 25-9, 25-17, 25-19. In that match senior Maria Allocco became the ninth Nazareth player to surpass 1,000 kills for her career. She had six kills against the Tigers to boost her career total to 1,001.

Against Medaille, senior Kassandra Buseck led the attack with eight kills on 14 swings. Senior Olivia Harrigan added seven kills and senior Maria Allocco had six. Sophomores Madi Wickens, Rachel Williamson and Maureen Thayer split the setting duties with Wickens totaling 12 assists, Williamson nine and Thayer eight. Freshman Mallory Cobb had five service aces.

Nazareth posted a .330 hitting percentage (39-10-88) against RIT with Buseck leading the way with 10 kills. Junior Jennifer Hicks added nine kills while Allocco and Harrigan had six each. Wickens amassed 30 assists, while Allocco also had six service aces, including a string of four straight in the second set.

Nazareth never trailed in dominating the first set. In the second set, RIT scored the first point, then Nazareth scored 10 of the next 11 points to take control. The third set was close initially before Nazareth broke a 4-4 tie by scoring six straight points.


ELMIRA
The Elmira College women's volleyball team wrapped-up the two-day University of Rochester Tournament by splitting a pair of matches Sunday afternoon.  Elmira won their first match of the day in dramatic fashion, pulling out a five set win over The Sage Colleges (22-25, 28-26, 13-25, 25-19, 15-12) before dropping the nightcap to host University of Rochester (26-24, 25-9, 25-12).
 
Elmira looked to being the second day of today's tournament the right way by getting a win against The Sage Colleges and the Soaring Eagles did just that in the form of a 3-2 victory.  After trailing 2-1 in the match, Elmira rallied to win the remaining two sets to pull out a crucial five set win.  With the victory, Elmira improved their all-time series record against the Gators of Sage College to 4-0.
 
The Soaring Eagle offense found their form today as three Elmira players finished today's contest with double-digit kills, including Kierstin Derr '16 who led EC with a season-high 13 kills.  Amanda Blinkinsop '16 and Paola Ortiz '16 were the other two Soaring Eagles with double-digit kills, posting 11 and 10 kills respectively.
 
Defensively, Elmira was superb as four players logged double-digit digs, including third-year libero Kelsey Ross '16 who totaled a career-high 21 digs.  Sami Hanes '16 also added a career-high 19 digs while Blinkinsop and Derr each made 11 apiece.  Hanes also totaled a season-high 39 assists in today's contest.
 
For Elmira, Hanes led EC's offense with 20 assists while Ross spearheaded the defensive efforts with 12 digs.  


ST. JOHN FISHER
The St. John Fisher College volleyball team won its opening contest Saturday at the University of Rochester Invitational before falling in straight sets to the University of Penn State Behrend.
 
The Cardinals and the Continentals traded the opening sets.  Fisher battled to a 27-25 first win before Hamilton came on strong to win the second set 25-13.
 
Fisher, however, proved to be too much for the Continentals in the third and fourth sets winning 25-15 and 25-17, respectively.
 
Anna Marcy paced the Cardinals with 15 kills, followed by Madison Karwas who tallied seven.
 
Erin Crandall registered a team-high 25 digs while Karwas and Brooke Meader each had 11.
 
In their second match of the day the Cardinals lost in a hard-fought three sets.  The Lions squeezed by in the first set 25-23, before cruising to a 25-17 second-set win.  Fisher pushed the Lions to the brink in the final set, falling 29-27.
 
Marcy once again led Fisher with 14 kills while Karwas notched nine.
 
Meader dished out 26 assists to lead the Cardinals, while Erica Stickler added 10.  


HARTWICK
Hartwick volleyball closed its weekend at the Nazareth College Invitational on Saturday. The Hawks fell in three sets to Medaille and in four sets to Rochester Institute of Technology. The Hawks' overall record now stands at 3-5.
           
In 'Wick's opening match against the Mavericks, the Hawks matched their opponents in the first set only to fall two points short, 25-23. Medaille then secured scores of 25-20 and 25-18 in the second and third sets, respectively, to earn the win.
           
Senior Dana Martin and junior Mary Beth DeCuyke combined for 21 of the Hawks' 33 kills in the match. Martin had a match-high 13 and missed a double-double by one dig with as she registered nine. DeCuyke accounted for eight kills.
           
Sophomore Alyssa Zeitler picked up a match-high 17 digs. Sophomore Quincy Kinzel added nine digs and dished 24 assists.
           
Medaille received nine kills from Lydia Penberthy. Hannah Johnson had 16 digs and Simmone Talford contributed 22 assists.
           
The Hawks had a tough match with RIT in their nightcap. In a marathon first set which reached the 30-point mark, the Tigers edged the Hawks by two points. RIT controlled the second set but the Hawks responded in the third, taking it 25-23. The Tigers roared back in the fourth set 25-12, however, to take the match.
           
Martin again missed a double-double by a single dig. She had a team-best 16 kills and nine digs. Zeitler recorded a team-high 10 digs, and Hannah Armstrong had eight. Kinzel posted 23 assists.


ALFRED
The Alfred University women's volleyball team dropped two matches Saturday at the LaRoche College Tournament.
 
The Saxons fell to host LaRoche, 3-2, in a semifinal match Saturday morning, then dropped a 3-0 decision to Washington & Jefferson in the afternoon's consolation match.
 
Against LaRoche, AU (2-5) lost by scores of 15-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-18 and 6-15. Freshman Chelsea Pietrzykowski had 14 kills and four digs and sophomore Mary Lou Patnaude had 13 kills and 10 digs to lead the Saxons.
 
Freshman Aubrey Totsline had 29 assists; senior Taylor Kiernan had 12 digs and freshman Jacquelynn Hicks had three solo blocks for AU.
 
Alfred lost to W&J 17-25, 8-25 and 12-25. Junior Brianna Dudick had six kills, four digs and a service ace and Totsline had nine assists and 13 digs to lead AU.
 
The Saxons got eight digs from Kiernan, four kills and three blocks from Hicks, And four kills and seven digs from Patnaude.