Box Score

ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The Ithaca College volleyball team (5-8, 0-1 Empire 8) suffered a 3-1 (25-22, 25-15, 22-25, 25-10) setback to Stevens Institute of Technology (13-1, 1-0 Empire 8) to open Empire 8 play Friday night at Hartwick.

Offensively, Ithaca was led by rookie Shaelynn Schmidt with 12 kills, while juniors Rylie Bean and Abbie Hutchinson added six and five, respectively. Freshman Molly Brown set for 14 assists and sophomore Carly Garone chipped in 12. Sophomore Dylan Gawinski Stern led Ithaca defensively with 12 digs and freshman Grace Chang added 11.

The Ducks took a 6-2 lead to open the match, but Ithaca bounced back to knot action at 8. Stevens crept ahead and remained there to edge Ithaca 25-22 in the first. Stevens opened the second stint on a 14-0 run. Ithaca surged to pull within 21-14, but the Ducks held on for the 25-15 victory and a 2-0 series lead. Ithaca claimed the third. The Bombers tipped of play with an 8-3 streak that they built upon for a 14-7 lead. Stevens powered to deadlock the set at 21, but Ithaca scored four of the final five points for the third-set win. The Ducks dominated the last frame. After an early 3-3 tie, Stevens went on a 12-3 run en route to a 25-10 final.  

Stevens, who has won 40 of the 52 games it's played thus far this season, forced Ithaca to commit 16 receiving errors and held the Bombers to a .089 hitting percentage.

Ithaca will continue conference action Saturday, Sept. 21 playing Houghton and the host Hawks at 12:30 and 3 p.m.