Faunce Earns 600th Victory
Score: Elmira College 3, The Sage Colleges 1 [17-25, 32-30, 25-15, 25-22]
Score: Elmira College 3, Houghton College 2 [17-25, 13-25, 25-16, 25-18, 16-14]
Records: Elmira (18-10, 3-5 E8), Sage (7-20, 1-6 E8), Houghton (11-16, 2-5 E8)
Location: Albany, N.Y. -- Kahl Gymnasium
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Head Coach
Rhonda Faunce earned her 600th career victory in the Elmira College women's volleyball team's sweep at the Empire 8 Crossover at The Sage Colleges on Saturday afternoon in Albany, New York. Faunce is one of just 14 active coaches in all of Division III with 600 or more wins in their careers. The Soaring Eagles began the event with a 3-1 triumph over the host Gators, before topping Houghton College, 3-2, in the second match of the day.
In the first bout of the day, EC and Sage fought a tightly contested match. Elmira just outhit the Gators, .101-to-.094, in addition to the Soaring Eagles taking a 50-to-37 lead in assists and a 10-to-9 advantage in service aces.
Individually, junior outside hitter
Natalie Schieder '19 paced EC in both kills (18) and digs (13), her 15th double-double of the season. Junior setter
Taylor Kaznowski '19 was also on fire against Sage, as she tallied a match-high 38 assists to go along with 12 digs, her 11th double-double of the year. Also making an offensive impact for Elmira was freshman middle blocker
Savannah Terry '21, who tallied 11 kills and four total blocks against the Gators. Fellow rookie
Lauren Smith '21 also recorded double-digit kills in the tilt, with 10.
The Soaring Eagles got off to a slow start in the first set, dropping 10 of the first 14 points to Sage. The Gators continued to grow its lead with a 10-7 run, which put Elmira behind by nine points, 20-11. EC answered with a 5-3 push of its own to cut the deficit to seven, 23-16. Unfortunately for the Purple and Gold, this would be the closest that they would get, as they dropped the first set by a 25-17 final score.
In the second set, Sage again stormed out to an early lead, 8-3. The Soaring Eagles were ready for this quick start, however, as a
Tiara John '19 kill sparked an 8-2 run by the road team, which gave EC an 11-10 advantage. The two teams traded points until a 3-0 Elmira run, which was capped by a
Courtney VanBuren '18 kill, gave the Purple and Gold a two-point advantage, 16-14. A quick 4-0 run by the Gators gave them their own two-point lead, 18-16. The two teams again started to trade points until the score sat at 30-29 in Sage's favor. EC was not deterred, however, as a Terry block and service ace in back-to-back points gave Elmira the set by a 32-30 final score.
The third set was tightly contested to start, as mini-runs by both teams led to a 12-9 score that favored the Soaring Eagles. With this slight advantage, EC used an 8-2 push to expand its lead to nine, 20-11. Elmira held on to this lead, winning the third by a 25-15 final score.
The Purple and Gold came out on fire in the fourth, winning eight of the first nine points. A 9-1 run by the Gators quickly stopped that advantage and even swung the set in the home team's favor, 10-9. Elmira answered with an 11-8 extended run of its own to retake the lead, 21-17. Despite a late push by Sage, which tied the score at 21-all, the Purple and Gold won four of the last five points to seal the 3-1 conference triumph.
In the second match of the day, Elmira again found itself against a similarly skilled foe. Houghton outhit the Soaring Eagles by a .133-to-.093 margin, which included scalding .267 and .206 clips in the first and second sets, respectively. EC warmed up in the later sets, as it outhit the Highlanders in both the third and fifth sets.
For the second consecutive match, an all-around performance from Schieder (21k, 19d) highlighted the Soaring Eagles' individual performances. Kaznowski also tallied her second consecutive strong outing, as she finished the contest with 37 assists and 10 digs. Terry posted 11 kills, her second straight 11-kill performance. John completed the match just one kill shy of a double-double, with 11 digs and nine kills.
The first two sets against the Highlanders were very similar to the opening set against Sage, as Houghton used early runs to build a lead that the Soaring Eagles were unable to overcome. This early momentum resulted in 25-17 and 25-13 set wins for the Highlanders in the first and second sets, respectively.
Facing a two-sets-to-none deficit, Elmira came out firing in the third set, as it stormed out to a quick 11-4 lead. This momentum continued with an 8-4 push stretched the lead to 11 points, 19-8. Despite a Houghton run before the end of the set, EC held on to take the third by a 25-16 final score.
With this momentum, the Soaring Eagles started off the fourth by taking the first four points, a surge that was highlighted by two straight Kaznowski service aces. An 8-6 push by the Purple and Gold expanded their lead to six points, 12-6. The teams started to trade points until EC's advantage sat at five points, 18-13. Three consecutive errors by Houghton expanded EC's lead to eight, 21-13. Again, another late run by the Highlanders would not be enough, as the Soaring Eagles were able to force a decisive fifth set by taking the fourth, 25-18.
With the match on the line, a 5-1 run by EC gave the Soaring Eagles the early advantage. Houghton did not lie down, however, as the Highlanders put together a 9-3 push to take their own lead, 10-8. From that point, Schieder tallied kills on three of the next five points, which gave Elmira the lead back, 12-11.Three straight points by Houghton gave it a two-point advantage, 14-12, which put it in prime position to win the match. With their backs against the wall, Schieder took control and tallied three kills in the final four points to guide EC to its third E8 triumph of the season.
In Her Own Words…
Head Coach
Rhonda Faunce on earning 600 wins while coaching at Elmira…
"It is a great honor to achieve this milestone at one institution. I can't help but be flooded with thoughts of many great players that have played for me at Elmira. There were some here today that came with their families."
Coach Faunce on having to come back in both matches today…
"This season, the team has done a really nice job of playing until the last point. They finally believe in one another and have worked super hard to be successful."
Coach Faunce on the team's mindset heading into its final five matches…
"The women want to win out. It is a tough goal, but it is one that I think could happen. "
News and Notes
- With the pair of wins today, Elmira improves to 18-10 overall and 3-5 in conference action.
- EC also improved to 7-2 in neutral site matches in 2017.
- The Soaring Eagles posted double-digit service aces in both matches today, a feat that they have accomplished 13 times this year.
- Elmira's six blocks against Sage are tied for the second most that it has recorded this season.
- The two victories today give Coach Faunce exactly 600 in her illustrious career.
- Faunce is just one of 14 active coaches in all of Division III with 600 or more career victories.
- With 39 kills today, Schieder is tied with Mary Powell '94 for 10th place on EC's all-time kill's leaderboard with 1,041 in her career.
- Schieder posted a double-double in both matches today, which expands her team lead in that category to 16.
- Schieder's 21 kills against Houghton is her fifth 20-kill outing of the season.
- With 75 assists today, Kaznowski currently has 2,313 in her career, which moves her past both Molly Short '13 (2,268) and Sami Hanes '16 (2,269) for sixth place on Elmira's all-time leaderboard.
- Kaznowski also recorded double-doubles in both bouts today, which gives her 12 in 2017.
- Kaznowski has recorded at least 30 assists in 10 of her last 12 matches.
- Terry's identical 11-kill performances in both tilts today are tied for the second most that she has recorded in her rookie season.
- Smith's 10 kills against Sage are the most that she has tallied since she posted 10 in EC's 3-1 win over Utica on October 7.