Women's Volleyball | 11/2/2021 9:11:00 PM
ELMIRA, N.Y. – The No. 4 seed Elmira College women's volleyball defeated No. 5 seed Keuka in straight sets on Tuesday evening in the opening round of the Empire 8 Conference Tournament, winning25-22, 25-15, 25-20. In a matchup which featured 20 ties and nine lead changes, the Soaring Eagles served to five straight points to conclude the third set. With the win, Elmira moves on to the Empire 8 Semifinals and will take on top-seed St. John Fisher, the tournament host, on Friday at 5:00 p.m.
SCORE: Elmira 3, Keuka 0
LOCATION: Elmira, N.Y. | Speidel Gymnasium
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (8-15, 3-5 E8), Keuka (9-18, 3-5 E8)
The teams played their closest set in the first, with Elmira taking an early 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-22 win. Despite Keuka showing to be a strong first-set team throughout the season, the Purple & Gold took their first lead of the set at 7-6 and never looked back. As a team, the hit .188% in the set while Maddie Boucher '24 led the way with three kills.
In the second, the Soaring Eagles rolled to a 25-15 victory, using an 11-2 run to finish the set after the score sat at 14-3 in favor of EC. Kaylene Sauschuck '22 was instrumental in the set, tallying five kills while Asia Curkendall '25 brought her assist total to 20 following the second.
In the third and final set, Elmira found themselves trailing 14-9 before
Daniel Miranda used his second and final timeout. The break turned out to be instrumental for the Soaring Eagles, who went on to take five straight out of the timeout to tie the set at 14-14. After the Wolves grabbed four of the next five to take an 18-15 lead, Elmira scored 9 of the next 11 points to take the final set 25-20 and the match in straight sets. EC was able to score the final five points with the serve in Ava Wallingford's '25 hands, which included three service aces.
The Soaring Eagles will return to the court on Friday when they take on the conference's regular season champion, St. John Fisher, in the Semifinals of the Empire 8 Tournament. First serve is set for 5:00 p.m. inside Manning & Napier Gymnasium on the campus of St. John Fisher College. The Cardinals defeated Elmira in three sets on two different occasions this season, 25-19, 25-14, 25-9 on Sept. 21 and 25-13, 25-14, 25-12 on Oct. 9.
2021 Empire 8 Women's Volleyball Championship Schedule
Tuesday, Nov. 2 (First Round)
#4 Elmira defeated #5 Keuka, 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-20) – BOX SCORE
Friday, Nov. 5 (Semifinals at St. John Fisher
#4 Elmira at #1 St. John Fisher – 5 p.m. | VIDEO - LIVE STATS
#3 Nazareth vs. #2 Hartwick – 7:30 p.m. | VIDEO - LIVE STATS
Saturday, Nov. 6 (Championship at St. John Fisher)
Winner of Semifinal #1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2 – 2 p.m. | VIDEO - LIVE STATS