Totsline breaks school record in career assists

10/3/2017 10:59:00 PM

Chris Boswell

ALFRED, NY – In the fourth set, on the 16th set point for the Alfred University women's volleyball team, senior setter Aubrey Totsline (Fairport, NY/Fairport) broke the school record for career assists and would go on to help the Saxons top Elmira College, 3-2 in Empire 8 action on Tuesday evening.
 
Totsline came into the match with a total of 2,490 set assists. The record was 2,532 set by Jen McLaughlin '98 (played in seasons '95, 96, '97 and '98). Totsline only needed 43 to break the record but instead, finished the match with 53 of the Saxons' 54 set assists, breaking her old personal best of 49 assists in one match. The total puts her now at 2,543 assists.
 

"Being a first-year coach, this is the fairytale ending that I get to walk into. This is just her career, this is the entirety of her career and she's always come in and given it her best," Head Coach Dakota 'Dak' Pruiss said. "That record, to have it be broken after such a long drought of who had been posting assists for this program, for her to come in and do that, it is a really special moment and I don't know if it has sunk in for her yet but for me, I got chills when it got announced because she's such a special person and she's the glue to this team."
 
The Saxons (4-14, 2-2 Empire 8) defeated the Soaring Eagles (10-8, 0-4 Empire 8) in five sets with sets scores of 23-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-19 and 15-12. Totsline's assists benefitted senior Jacquelynn Hicks (Greenville, NY/Greenville) the most as she finished with 17 kills on 35 attempts with only three errors (.400 hitting percentage). Hicks added a match-high four aces and tacked on two digs. She finished with 21.0 points, making her points and kills both career-highs for her.
 
"It was a huge character match. There were a lot of ups-and-downs and emotions and we came out in the end," Coach Pruiss said "Jackie [Hicks] is somebody who shows day in and day out when she decides to win, we're going to win and the team rally arounds her for that. I'm super proud of her execution tonight and how she stepped up and do what she could do on every single point."
 
Hicks led three other Saxons in double-figure points as sophomore Amber Smith (Penfield, NY/Webster Schroeder) had 14.5 points from 12 kills, two aces and one block assist, senior Heather D'Andrea (Erie, PA/Mercyhurst Prep) had 12.5 points from 11 kills, one ace and one block assist and senior Maddison VanEtten (Harpursville, NY/Harpursville Central) finished with a career-high 10.0 points as she tied her career-best in kills with eight earned her first ace of her Saxon career and assisted on two blocks.
 
Defensively, every player of Alfred University who stepped on the court tonight, had at least one dig. Smith led the way with 21 digs, D'Andrea had 15 while first-year Alex Taylor (Rancho Cucamonga, CA/Los Osos) rounded out the double-digits with 13 attack stops. Both Totsline and sophomore Mikala McCartney (Buffalo, NY/St. Mary's) had nine digs.
 
Elmira was led by a match-high 22.0 points from 20 kills, one ace and two block assists from Natalie Schieder. She also led the Soaring Eagles with 23 digs. Taylor Kaznowski had 41 set assists.
 
The Saxons bested the Eagles on the serve as they had 11 aces compared to the visitors' five.