Box Score
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Ithaca College volleyball team (12-18, 3-2 Empire 8) won a five-set thriller over St. John Fisher (13-15, 2-3 Empire 8), 3-2 (25-27, 26-24, 22-25, 25-21, 17-15), Friday night at Nazareth.
Ithaca hit .251 and tallied a season-best 72 kills in a crucial Empire 8 victory. Freshman
Shaelynn Schmidt posted a season-high 24 kills. Classmate
Grace Chang added 14, junior
Abbie Hutchinson put down a career-high 13 and junior
Rylie Bean chipped in 12.
Rookie
Molly Brown and sophomore
Carly Garone shared setting duties. Brown had 27 assists and Garone 23. Garone also led the Bombers with four aces.
Sophomore
Dylan Gawinski Stern dug out 19 balls, Chang 14 and freshman
Myan Idziur 13. Rookie
Siobhan Sorensen blocked six balls, one shy of her season-high performance.
The Cardinals powered to a 7-2 lead in the first, but Ithaca rewrote the deficit to knot action at 16. Fisher went ahead 22-18, but Ithaca again surged to tie the set up at 23, 24 and 25. Fisher claimed the final two to secure the first, 27-25.
Ithaca mirrored Fisher's first-set performance in the second, taking a 6-1 lead on Garone's serve. An 8-3 Cardinal run tied action at 9-all. The game was at a stalemate an additional nine times as the lead bounced between the two squads. Chang and Sorensen shared a block to give the Bombers a 25-24 edge and Idziur served an ace to even the series, 1-1.
The Cardinals built upon a 5-1 advantage in the third for a 15-11 gap. Ithaca answered with a 7-1 streak to take an 18-16 lead. The Bombers improved to 21-18, but the Cardinals outlasted Ithaca with seven of the last eight points and a 25-22 final.
Garone was the lead-off server in the fourth frame, forcing Fisher to burn an early timeout. Ithaca got off to a 5-0 lead, though the Cardinals tied the set up at 9 and 10. The Bombers responded with another five straight and maintained a steady advantage en route to a 25-21 win.
Ithaca dominated the fifth with a 6-2 opening run. Fisher made it interesting late, deadlocking the final stanza at 13, 14 and 15, but back-to-back Hutchinson kills on Garone sets polished off the victory for the Blue & Gold.
The Bombers will wrap up Empire 8 play Saturday facing Alfred at 10 a.m. and Elmira at 3 p.m.
