ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College volleyball team improved to 5-1 on the season with a 3-0 victory over Alfred University on Friday night in Ben Light Gymnasium. The contest was Ithaca's home opener, the first match of the Bomber Invitational and an Empire 8 Conference contest.

Ithaca cruised through the first two sets to come away with 25-14 and 25-13 wins. The Bombers never trailed in either set, and jumped out to 11-4 and 11-2 leads to put each game out of reach early on. In the third set, Ithaca fell behind, 7-3. After a timeout, the Bombers answered with a 9-2 run to take a 12-9 advantage which forced Alfred to halt action. The Saxons crept back to a 15-13 difference, but Ithaca would go on to score 10 of the next 12 points to secure the victory.

The Bombers hit .333 (41K, 13E, 84A) overall in the match, while Alfred hit .000 (19K, 19E, 88A). Ithaca also scored on nine aces and notched 12 total blocks.

Freshman Katie Evans posted a remarkable offensive performance, hitting .833 on a team-best 10 kills in 12 swings. Evans also added two blocks, a service ace and dig.

Sophomore Joelle Goldstein also recorded 10 kills and swung at a .529 clip, to go along with seven digs, three aces, two assists and a block. Fellow sophomore Kayla Gromen dished out 31 assists with nine digs and five kills, while senior Dylan Gawinski-Stern contributed nine digs, four assists and two kills.

Freshman Hailey Adler paced Ithaca defensively with 12 digs and chipped in seven kills. Classmate Amanda Cerruti registered four total blocks, three digs and three kills.

The Bombers are back in action tomorrow for a pair of matches. Ithaca plays Wells first at 10 a.m. and then wraps up the invitational against Widener at 4 p.m.

#ICVictory