Ithaca Advances to Regional Semifinals, Outlasts Middlebury in Five Sets
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BROCKPORT, N.Y. – The Ithaca College volleyball team pulled out all the stops on Friday night when it began opening-round play of the NCAA Regionals against Middlebury at The College at Brockport. A furious rally in the fifth set ensured the Bombers season would extend at least one more day, as Ithaca outlasted Middlebury in a five-set thriller (27-25, 26-24, 21-25, 18-25, 16-14) that had the crowd buzzing long after the final point was scored.
The match was contested on the closest of terms, as only a razor-thin edge separated the two evenly-matched sides that both represented their respective conferences as league champions. All three of Ithaca's set victories required extra points, with IC making the clutch plays when it counted most to pull out the match. Trailing 14-11 in the decisive fifth set, the Bombers sided out, before sophomore libero
Tara Stilwell rattled off four consecutive points on serve to complete the 16-14 set victory to move on to tomorrow's Round of 32 matchup.
"Obviously, today qualifies as a hard-fought victory," head coach
Johan Dulfer said. "I don't think Middlebury qualifies as a typical six-seed. They played extremely well, a testament to their coaching. They made very few errors and gave us all we could handle tonight."
Ithaca looked poised to make it a much quicker evening after jumping out to an early two-sets-to-none lead in the match. However, close inspection of the opening two frames revealed that everyone in attendance would be in store for a thrilling contest.
It was Middlebury that jumped out to an early advantage in the first set, as the Panthers kept Ithaca off balance with a strong service game. The NESCAC Champions extended the lead as wide as 13-5, but the Bombers chipped away to climb back into the set. Riding the strong pin hitting of
Taylor McCarthy and
Joelle Goldstein, whittled the eight-point deficit all the way down to a deadlock at 20-all. The teams traded the next seven rallies with the Panthers securing the opportunity to serve for the set twice with 24-23 and 25-24 leads.
IC answered the latter opportunity with a three consecutive points to gain the early leg up in the match.
Hailey Adler leveled the set at 25-all with a great finesse kill over top of the Panthers pesky block, which proved to be much stronger than advertised over the course of the season. Goldstein followed up Adler's finish with a kill of her own to put IC ahead 26-25, while the Bombers closed out the set, as the Panthers struggled to contend with Stilwell's serve.
Riding the momentum from the opening set win, Ithaca jumped out to the early advantage in the second set. Kills by
Kayla Gromen,
Caroline Gerulskis, and McCarthy helped lift IC to an 8-4 lead. Back-to-back kills by Adler and
Katie Evans shortly later in the set widened the Ithaca lead to 16-11; however, as was the case all night, when one team began to pull away the other set to task of reeling the other in.
The Panthers scored five straight points to even the set at 16-all. After IC answered with a three-point run of its own, Middlebury went on to win eight of the next 12 rallies to again have a chance to serve for a potential match-tying set. Once again, IC came up with the necessary plays when it needed them most. The Bombers against turned to their talented outside duo to get the job done. Goldstein picked up a crucial kill and McCarthy saw out the set on serve, as Ithaca took a stranglehold on the match with a 26-24 victory in the second frame.
Just when things looked to be in control, a seemingly insurmountable lead evaporated into thin air, as Middlebury stormed back to tie the tilt at two sets apiece.
The third set was controlled by the Panthers after a pair of lengthy scoring runs. With the Bombers leading 8-6, Middlebury marked a 6-1 scoring run to snatch the lead away. The Panthers never relinquished it, as a subsequent 7-0 streak widened the Middlebury advantage to 20-12. Although the Bombers clawed back within striking distance, racking up a total of 16 kills in the frame, the Panthers were able to hold off the comeback charge for a 25-21 win in the third set.
With the match slowly turning back in the other direction, Middlebury put together its strongest performance in the fourth set. The Panthers amassed 16 kills on .400 hitting to pull away from the Bombers to send the game to a fifth set.
The fourth set was extremely tightly contested during the early portions of the frame, as both sides traded blows to reach a 16-16 deadlock in the middle of the frame. However, it was Middlebury that was able to string together the first significant run of the set, closing out the fourth with nine of the final 11 rallies to score the 25-18 win.
The decisive fifth set was a microcosm of the entire match as the punch-counterpunch continued. Ithaca scored the first two points of the frame, but Middlebury answered back with a 4-0 run to take the lead back at 7-4. The Panthers hit the midway point with an 8-6 advantage.
Trailing 9-6 after Middlebury took the initial point after the two teams traded sides, Ithaca responded with four consecutive points to take a 10-9 lead. Gerulskis, Adler and McCarthy picked up kills during the run, while Gromen constructed the streak from serve, also notching a service ace. The run prompted a Middlebury timeout to regroup.
The Panthers answered the Ithaca charge with points on five of the next six rallies to push Ithaca to the brink at 14-11. However, the Bombers emptied the tank down the stretch to score one of the most thrilling comebacks in program history.
Needing to stave off three match points, the Bombers sided out with a clutch kill from Goldstein. Excellent serving and defense ensued, as
Amanda Cerruti combined with Adler for a block assists to close the deficit to 14-13. The second-year middle followed with a solo block to tie the match at 14-all. After the Panthers struggled to pass Stilwell's serve, IC miraculously found itself in the lead at 15-14. The Bombers closed out the match on the ensuing rally, as Goldstein skied for a thunderous kill off the Middlebury block to take the set 16-14 and the match.
"We had to earn every single point, because Middlebury did not give away anything freely," Dulfer continued. "I'm so proud of this group. Every time we needed to come up with some crucial points we were able to get the job done. They played with exceptional purpose during the most pressure-packed moments of the match and shown through with flying colors tonight."
Goldstein had a monster effort with a season-best 20 kills and nine digs, while McCarthy had a career match on the opposite side with a personal-best 20 kills on scintillating .378 hitting. She added three digs, a solo block, and a block assist.
Gerulskis added a strong match on the outside with nine kills, two digs, and two block assists. Adler added five kills, one dig, and two block assists.]
In the middle, Evans led the middles with nine kills and three block assists. Cerruti posted a heroic defensive effort with two solo blocks and four block assists, while she also chipped in four kills.
Gromen paced the Bombers with 29 assists, while she added the double-double with 13 digs. The third-year setter added two kills and one service ace. Rookie setter
Caitlyn Floyd chipped in 27 assists and seven digs, while she also led Ithaca with three service aces.
Behind Ithaca's block,
Myan Idziur posted 10 digs, while Stilwell had a huge match with a season-high 35 digs. The sophomore libero also chipped in eight assists.
Marlee Wierda marked a service ace and a dig.
The victory evens Ithaca's all-time record in the NCAA Tournament to 20-20, while it marked the second consecutive year the Bombers have moved on to the Round of 32.
The Bombers will face the winner of tonight's final match pitting host Brockport against Gallaudet in tomorrow's semifinal. The match is slated for 5:30 p.m.