Ithaca Moves on in NCAA Tournament
TOURNAMENT HOMEPAGE | NCAA BRACKET
Postgame Interviews
POTSDAM, N.Y. – The Ithaca College volleyball team defeated Williams College in straight sets on Friday evening in the first round of the NCAA Division III Championship at the Potsdam Regional hosted by Clarkson University. With the win, Ithaca is now 31-4, while Williams ends the year with an 18-11 mark.
The 31 victories match the most wins for Ithaca since 2005. That '05 squad was the last Bombers team to win an NCAA match with a sweep over New Jersey City University.
The Bombers took the first set, 25-21, and only trailed after the opening point of the game. Ithaca hit .235 to open the match, led by seven kills from sophomore
Joelle Goldstein. Classmate
Kayla Gromen handed out 11 assists in the set to go along with four digs, while freshman
Katie Evans was a perfect 3-for-3 in kills. After the first point, Ithaca controlled the set and forced Williams to burn both timeouts by the time the score reached 19-15.
In the second set, Ithaca jumped out to a 6-0 advantage and never looked back, taking a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-17 victory. After the early deficit for Williams, the Ephs fought back against Ithaca to an 8-4 difference, but the Bombers responded with an 8-4 run to go up by a score of 16-8. Another comeback attempt ensued for Williams, as it drew to within 17-14, only to watch Ithaca run away at the end with eight of the final 11 points. Goldstein put down six more kills in the set and Gromen dished out 11 more assists. The Bombers hit .419 in the second set.
Williams scored the first three points of the third set, but the Bombers quickly erased the deficit with five straight points. Ithaca never trailed from there on out and completing the sweep of the Ephs with a 25-20 win.
Goldstein finished with a match-high 15 kills on a .355 hitting percentage with eight digs and two blocks. Gromen recorded 31 assists, three kills, three aces and six digs.
Evans hit .500 overall in the match with nine kills on 14 swings, while freshman
Amanda Cerruti led all players with five block assists, to go along with four kills in 10 attempts. Fellow freshman
Hailey Adler contributed five kills with eight digs and an ace. Sophomore
Caroline Gerulskis chipped in four kills, two blocks and two digs.
Senior
Dylan Gawinski-Stern added eight digs and two aces, and sophomore
Marlee Wierda rounded out the evening with seven digs and one ace.
Ithaca hit .277 in the match with eight service aces and seven total blocks. Williams hit just .118 but also tallied eight aces.
All three matches in the regional have ended by 3-0 outcomes. Ithaca plays the winner of No. 18 Clarkson and Colby-Sawyer tomorrow evening at 5 p.m.
Regional Scoreboard
Springfield def. Mount Saint Vincent, 3-0 (25-8, 25-13, 25-16)
Brockport def. Framingham State, 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-22)
Clarkson vs. Colby-Sawyer – 8 p.m.
Saturday's Schedule
Springfield vs. Brockport – 2:30 p.m.
Ithaca vs. Clarkson/Colby-Sawyer Winner – 5 p.m.