CHAMPS! Ithaca Wins Second Straight E8 Title
HOBOKEN, N.J. – The Ithaca College volleyball team took home the program's sixth Empire 8 Conference title in its final year affiliated with the league on Sunday afternoon, avenging a regular-season defeat at the hands of Stevens with a four-set victory over the Ducks at Canavan Arena. The win marked the second straight year that Ithaca has bested Stevens in Hoboken, N.J., to win the conference crown.
Ithaca becomes the first team since Nazareth College to repeat as champions; the Golden Flyers won three straight from 2011-to-2013, while the Bombers join Nazareth as the only two Empire 8 programs to repeat two separate times during their respective program histories. The Bombers also won back-to-back Empire 8 titles in 2004 and 2005.
"We talked about purpose all year long and today felt like the culmination of that message," head coach
Johan Dulfer said. "I thought we came out focused and really poised in the match."
Second-seeded Ithaca (26-5, 7-1 Empire 8) has been looking forward to a rematch against their biggest rival ever since falling to the Ducks in the first conference crossover weekend at the end of September. That match was tightly-contested despite Stevens (31-5, 8-0 Empire 8) triumphing in three sets and the Bombers were confident that they could flip the script with a second opportunity against the talented outfit.
Ithaca came out with a solid game plan against Stevens, which seemed to immediately click in the opening set. The Bombers racked up 17 kills on .256 hitting to narrowly edge the Ducks, who posted 14 kills on .324 hitting, for a 25-23 victory in the opening set.
"We knew that serving aggressively would make our job a lot easier today," Dulfer continued. "For the most part, I thought we accomplished what very few teams have been able to do in getting Stevens out of system."
As is generally the case when these two sides square off, neither team was able to hold the other down for long, leading to a back-and-forth tilt. The home side snagged the first lead with a 5-1 scoring run to go up 9-5 in the game, but the Bombers responded with four straight kills to retake the lead at 10-9. In typical Ithaca fashion, it got contributions throughout the lineup with
Caroline Gerulskis,
Hailey Adler,
Taylor McCarthy, and
Katie Evans tallying the rally finishes.
Ithaca and Stevens continued to trade points during the middle stretch of the game, but a 3-0 run by the Ducks gave the home side a 20-18 lead, prompting Dulfer to call a timeout. After again battling to a stalemate over the next four rallies to make the score 22-20, Ithaca scored five of the next six to score the crucial opening-set win. Adler evened the set with a kill to make it 23-all, while Empire 8 Player of the Year,
Joelle Goldstein, put IC into the lead at 24-23.
Amanda Cerruti closed out the frame with a big kill down the middle.
Much like yesterday, when the Bombers put together one of their most clinical efforts of the season in the middle set against the Golden Flyers, Ithaca had one of its best performances of the season in the second frame against Stevens. The defense in particular was stifling in limiting the Ducks to just .075 hitting in the frame.
The beginning portions of the set were similar to the opening frame, as the two sides traded points in a closely fought bout. However, Ithaca began to pull away down the back stretch on the virtue of a 9-2 run that blew open a 13-13 set into a 22-15 advantage for the Bombers. IC closed out the set on a 12-3 run overall to snatch a decisive two-set advantage in the match.
Six different Ithaca players recorded kills during the run, while
Kayla Gromen picked up a key service ace to cap a four-point run. Goldstein finished off the set with a thunderous kill to seal the frame.
The third game was one to forget for the Bombers, as they conceded 15 of the first 16 rallies in the set and never were able to recover. Ithaca committed 11 errors and hit -.167 in the frame, but was able to put that performance behind them quickly to again try to close out the match in the fourth set.
IC flipped the switch in the fourth set, posting another 17-kill set and their best hitting performance of the day with a .308 success clip to take the match with a 25-20 win in the fourth frame.
A 5-1 run midway through the set turned a 10-9 deficit into a 14-11 lead. The Bombers never trailed again. A subsequent 4-1 run, highlighted by a pair of kills from Goldstein and a huge solo block by Cerruti upped the advantage to 18-14, prompting a Stevens timeout.
The Ducks punched back to close the deficit to a single point at 19-18, but another 5-1 scoring stretch for Ithaca put the visitors on the brink of the championships at 24-19. McCarthy put the bookend on the run with kills, while Evans and Adler also marked finishes during the run. Evans sealed the match with a finesse kill that dropped between two diving Stevens players, before getting mobbed by her teammates at center court.
"I am so proud of the team and it was great to see how much confidence we displayed even when we were in a big hole in the third set," Dulfer concluded. "The team was not going to be denied today and it is an honor to be a part of this effort."
Goldstein paced the Bombers in the match with a double-double, marking a team-best 12 kills (.265 hitting) and 15 digs. She also added a block assists. McCarthy also continued her resurgence in recent weeks with 10 kills (.250 hitting) and five digs.
Gerulskis and Adler continued to play big roles in the offense, marking six kills apiece. The junior, Gerulskis, added a dig and a block assists, while the second-year Adler also chipped in a dig.
In the middle, Cerruti and Evans both posted seven kills, while Cerruti had a big defensive game with two solo blocks and two block assists.
Gromen had a huge match in the setting department for the Bombers, racking up a match-best 29 assists and securing the double-double with 15 digs in a splendid defensive performance. Freshman, Caityln Floyd, added three kills, 14 assists, and five digs.
Junior,
Marlee Wierda, scored two service aces. Senior,
Myan Idziur, added three digs, while sophomore,
Tara Stilwell, paced Ithaca with 19 digs.
With the victory, Ithaca has cemented its place in the NCAA Division III Tournament for the second straight season. The Bombers will find out their opening round fate tomorrow morning when the NCAA hosts its selection show.