Lucky 13: Women’s Volleyball wins twice at Alfred Tri to extend streak
Charles O'Brien
ALFRED, N.J. (September 22, 2018) – Junior Shelby Stewart totaled 23 kills and six blocks and classmate Sara Hain hit .436 over two matches as the Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team swept both Alfred University and Nazareth College Saturday in an Empire 8 Conference tri-match at the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena.
In the opener, Stewart collected 12 kills on 21 attacks with just one error and Han hit .538 to lead the Ducks to a sweep of hosting Alfred (25-17, 25-18, 25-14). Alfred's Amber Smith led all players with 14 kills.
The team's offensive firepower carried over to its second match of the day, with Hain and Mitchell combining for 22 kills and junior Taleen Mitchell falling one kill shy of a double-double as the Ducks completed the two-match sweep with a victory over Nazareth (25-23, 25-22, 25-14). Kasey Milligan led Alfred with 11 kills.
The victories extended Stevens' winning streak to 13 matches. The Ducks moved to 2-0 in the Empire 8 Conference.
Nazareth rebounded to defeat Alfred in the final match of the day to finish play with a 10-3 mark and a 1-1 record in the league contests. Alfred fell to 0-14 and 0-2 in the Empire 8. The tri-match included three of the four participants in last season's Empire 8 Championship.
"We went into our matches today with goals about our side of the net," said head coach
Annie McShea. "We wanted to play clean volleyball, pass well and keep the energy high and we succeeded in an all three of those goals."
"When we are able to put those things together, we are a dangerous force," McShea continued. "Both Alfred and Nazareth tested our defense and served well, but, we were able to be in system for the majority of the day and our middles came to play again today. It was a great start to conference play."
Senior Brianna Perez totaled 35 assists and junior Julie Greco added 29 for the Ducks, who have won 45 consecutive Empire 8 regular season matches.
Defensively, freshman libero Elizabeth Chu totaled 35 digs and classmate Roxy Stirb added 16 to go along with a pair of aces.
Against the hosting Saxons, the Ducks crossed the .300 attack percentage mark for the third time this season. Stevens was able to take advantage of 35 Alfred errors and did not trail in either the first or second set. Alfred was able to open a three-point advantage at 8-5 before a seven-point run reclaimed the lead for the Ducks. Three different players recorded a kill and sophomore Jillian Roumbanis served a pair of aces.
After retaking the lead in the third, Stevens would quickly close the door on Alfred, collecting the last five points of the frame to close out the match. Junior Kristen Edmiston and freshman Corinne Dougherty each notched a kill, but consecutive attack errors from Alfred ended the match.
In the final match of the day, seven different players recorded a kill and seven players collected a block for the Ducks, who committed just four attack errors over the first and third sets to complete the three-set victory.
Kills from Perez, Mitchell and Stewart opened the match scoring only to see Nazareth take a slim lead on a Madison Joseph kill. The tightly-contested opening set featured 13 ties before the a double block by Stewart and Dougherty brought the Ducks to set point and a Stewart kill closed out the frame.
The second stanza saw Stevens open play with kills from Hain and Dougherty to take an early lead. Nazareth would close to within a point on six different occasions, but a five-point run put the set out of reach. The Ducks were able to take advantage of a pair of Golden Flyer errors and a Stirb ace forced a timeout.
Nazareth threatened late in the set, scoring four consecutive points to close to within 24-22, but Hain set down a Perez kill to close out the frame.
The final set of the day saw Stevens force five Nazareth errors to key a seven-point run that put the stanza out of reach. The Golden Flyers never drew any closer than six points and Stevens scored three of the final four points to seal the victory.
Up Next: Stevens resumes non-conference play against Vassar College on Sept. 26 in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Live stats link is available on StevensDucks.com.
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