ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College volleyball team (11-17) split a pair of contests Saturday to conclude the 2013 Ithaca Tournament. The Bombers secured their third straight victory with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-19) sweep of Wells (4-17) before dropping a 3-1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-20, 25-14) decision to tournament champion, Messiah (14-9) in Ben Light Gymnasium. Freshman Shaelynn Schmidt represented Ithaca on the all-tournament team.

Against Wells, junior Rylie Bean paced the Bomber offense with 14 kills on 30 swings for a .333 hitting percentage. Schmidt posted nine kills and classmate Siobhan Sorensen seven. Sophomore captain Carly Garone put up 35 assists. The Bombers combined to serve 13 aces against the Express. Bean dug 11 balls and rookie Maggie Mutschler added eight. Sorensen had four blocks (1 solo, 3 assists).

The Bombers suffered an early 7-3 deficit to Wells, but used seven unanswered for a 19-14 gap en route to a 25-17 first-set win. Ithaca continued to dominate, jumping out to an 8-3 edge in the second stint. Ithaca built on its lead for an 18-11 margin, though the Express surged to pull within 18-16. The Bombers held off Wells for a 25-20 final and a 2-0 lead. The Express made the third game interesting in the waning moments. Ithaca led from the opening serve, but Wells rewrote a six-point shortage to knot the set at 17-all. Ithaca outlasted the visiting team down the stretch, 8-2, to secure its third consecutive victory.

Schmidt put down 12 kills against the Falcons and rookie Grace Chang added 10. Molly Brown recorded 16 assists and Garone 13. Gawinski Stern served up three aces and shared a match-best 16 digs with Chang. Junior Abbie Hutchinson posted five blocks to lead Ithaca at the net.

Ithaca took a 4-1 lead against Messiah on Kim's serve. The Falcons went on to force four ties before powering ahead by five points on four occasions. The Bombers snuck within 19-17 but tallied just two of the final eight points as Messiah took a 1-0 lead, 25-19. Ithaca evened action with a 25-22 second-set performance. The Bombers dictated the set, claiming an 18-11 gap. An 11-4 Falcon run deadlocked the game at 22. Two Messiah errors and a Myan Idziur ace polished off the set in Ithaca's favor. Messiah controlled the third and fourth sets of play. It snapped a 6-6 tie in the third with a 10-4 streak. The Falcons maintained at least a four-point edge and finalized the set, 25-20. Ithaca was forced to burn a timeout early in the fourth as the Falcons jumped out to a 5-1 advantage. Messiah steadily increased the gap to double-digits, 21-11, and secured a 25-14 fourth-set victory.

Ithaca will next travel to Oneonta for a dual match at 6 p.m.