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Volleyball

Volleyball Off To NCAA Playoffs After 3-1 Win Over Elmira

Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The volleyball team (22-14) posted a pair of wins in Friday's Empire 8 Championship Tournament, winning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs. The top-seeded Bombers posted 3-1 wins over fourth-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology and third-seeded Elmira to secure their first NCAA playoff appearance since 2005. Ithaca is the first team to clinch a bid to this year's NCAA volleyball tournament; the complete field will be announced Monday morning.

Junior Chelsea Hayes (Northern Valley Regional/Haworth, N.J.) was named the Tournament MVP after posting 16 kills on a .297 hitting percentage and adding nine digs and three block assists to the Bombers' efforts in the championship match.

Claiming their fourth Empire 8 volleyball title, Ithaca fell behind early in the first set before inching its way back to an 8-8 stalemate. The Bombers took a 9-8 lead on an Elmira ball handling error and maintained the advantage to take the first set, 25-17. A 7-2 run helped the Blue and Gold to a 13-9 lead that Elmira thrice brought within three, but an 8-4 stretch helped the Bombers take a 1-0 series advantage.

The second stint featured 13 ties and five lead changes as the Golden Eagles knotted the score at 1-1 with a 25-23 victory. Close early, Elmira took an 11-8 lead with three consecutive points and held an edge on Ithaca until a kill by junior Kate Thoene (Voorhees/High Bridge, N.J.) established a 17-16 Ithaca advantage. Elmira, which prior to the match had won 19 of its last 20 matches dating back to a five-set loss to the Bombers on Sept. 26, regained the lead at 19-18 before Ithaca scored on four consecutive plays. Despite holding a 22-19 advantage, Ithaca dropped the second on a 6-1 Elmira scoring streak.

The third frame featured two substantial sequences as Elmira took a 19-14 lead having scored on nine of 11 serves before the Bombers rebounded with an 11-3 run to claim a 2-1 lead on a 25-22 third-set victory.

En route to snapping Elmira's seven match winning streak, Ithaca claimed the fourth and final set, 25-22. The Soaring Eagles notched the game's opening two points, but Ithaca was quick to tie the action and go ahead for good. The Bombers used a 12-3 streak to take a 12-5 lead that they added to for a commanding 21-12 advantage. But Elmira forced Ithaca to burn its two timeouts as the Soaring Eagles brought the match within one, 23-22, on a 10-2 run. The Bombers then surged for the 25-22 victory on kills by junior Jessica Hoeffner (Hauppauge/Hauppauge) and Thoene.

Thoene led the Bombers with 17 kills, while Hayes and Hoeffner each added double-figure performances with 16 and 15, respectively. Like the semifinal match, freshman Sydney Folk (Long Beach/Long Beach) and sophomore Marissa Woodcome (Pittsford-Sutherland/Pittsford) split setting duties as the duo compiled 26 and 22 assists, respectively.

Senior Taylor Horton (Lakeridge/Lake Oswego, Ore.) tallied a match-high 18 kills, while senior Tina Orlandini (Flintridge Sacred Heart/Altadena, Calif.) posted 13 to help the Bombers' defensively. In addition, Ithaca was a force to be reckoned with at the net as four players put away three blocks each.