Mount St. Mary Box Score | Clarkson Box Score

New Paltz, N.Y. – The Ithaca (5-5) volleyball team secured a dominating 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-13) blanking of Mount St. Mary College (3-4) before falling in five sets to Clarkson (11-0), 3-2 (22-25, 19-25, 27-25, 25-21, 15-9), in the opening round of the Hawk Invitational hosted by New Paltz on Friday evening.

The Bombers and Knights had a close set early in game one, however Ithaca pulled away mid-way through the action to take a 17-12 lead on a long rally. Continuing to keep a step ahead of the competition, junior Karin Edsall (Cornwall Central/Cornwall) served to bring the Bombers within one point of the game, but it was a Mount St. Mary error that closed the set, 25-19, in the Bombers' favor.

The second game featured a 7-0 run that helped the Bombers to a 25-15 victory before taking the match in three sets with a 25-13 third game. In game three, Ithaca again secured an early lead and never looked back. Nine unanswered points awarded the Bombers a 16-5 cushion that the Bombers used to ride out the match.

Junior Kate Thoene (Voorhees/High Bridge, N.J.) led the Bomber offense with 12 kills and junior Chelsea Hayes (Northern Valley Regional/Harworth, N.J.) all but mirrored her performance with 11 of her own. Hayes made good on 11 of 25 attempts for a strong .360 attack percentage. Thoene recorded a .346 percent attacking accuracy and added five blocks (three solo, two assists) to her match accomplishments.
 
Freshman Sydney Folk (Long Beach/Long Beach) assumed setting duties for the match, dishing out 25 assists. Senior Taylor Horton (Lakeridge/Lake Oswego, Ore.) tallied 18 digs throughout the match.

In the Bombers second match of the day, Ithaca took a strong 2-0 lead over undefeated Clarkson, but failed to secure a third-set en route to its sixth straight win.

In game one, Ithaca trailed early but inched its way back to knot the game at 12 and 15 before scoring four unanswered which led the Bombers to victory.

The second game was neck and neck until Ithaca secured an 18-14 lead, the largest point differential of the game. Clarkson was able to bring the game within two, but Ithaca regrouped and secured the second-set win.

The third stint featured an early Clarkson lead, 14-8, that Ithaca was able to break down over the course of the set, but the Golden Knights kept a step ahead of the Bombers to post a 27-25 third set title.

Similar to the third, the fourth game involved a Bomber come-back, but the Golden Knights held the point advantage all but once, when the game was tied at 16, and capitalized on it to knot the series at 2-2. Clarkson maintained its momentum into the fifth set and posted a 15-9 victory.

In its first five-set match of the season, Folk tallied a career-high 34 assists to lead the offensive threat, Thoene and sophomore Stephanie Lavallato (Hunterdon Central/Flemington, N.J.) recorded 12 kills apiece. Four Bombers tallied double-digit digs led by Horton with 24. Sophomore Marissa Woodcome (Pittsford Sutherland/Pittsford) added 16, Lavallato 12 and senior Tina Orlandini (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy/Altadena, Calif.) 10. Thoene tallied six blocks (1 solo, five assists).

The Bombers will face host New Paltz in the 10 a.m. match on Saturday, Sept. 18 before taking on Johnson & Wales at 2 p.m.