ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – The Ithaca College women's volleyball kicked off the final weekend of the regular season on Friday evening when it headed to Pennsylvania for the two-day Eastern University Invitational. The Bombers faced former conference rival Stevens Institute of Technology in the first day of the event, suffering a disappointing four-set defeat to the Ducks (20-25, 25-16, 29-31, 20-25). The loss drops Ithaca to an 18-7 record on the year.
 
"Tonight was a disappointing start to the final weekend because I felt like we really controlled the match and just could not secure the final result," head coach Johan Dulfer said. "You have to give Stevens credit for being able to battle back and come up with the critical points. We just really struggled to put things away when we needed to and it ended up costing us tonight."
 
Despite being a non-League match for the Bombers, the meeting with the Ducks had some major implications for the NCAA Regional Rankings. Ithaca entered the match ranked second in the New York Region, while Stevens sat two spots back in fourth place. The regional rankings are one factor that the NCAA selection committee uses to determine at-large bids and seeding for next month's NCAA Tournament. Sadly, Friday will go down as a missed opportunity for an IC squad to further bolster its postseason resume.
 
The Bombers really controlled the majority of the match, holding significant leads in each of the first three sets. IC out-paced Stevens 58-to-36 in kills, 53-to-35 assists and 56-to-48 in digs. Despite these advantages, Ithaca still found itself down two-sets-to-one, letting the Ducks storm back to take victories in the first and third frames. A lengthy Stevens run sealed IC's fate in the fourth set.
 
"Tonight is a bitter lesson for us to learn," Dulfer added. "I really felt like we controlled 85-to-90-percent of the match. We had Stevens right where we wanted them, but just seemed to make puzzling decisions that allowed them to crawl back into the match."
 
Ithaca got off to a fast start in the first frame, jumping out to leads of 14-9, 17-15 and 19-17. However, the Ducks took advantage of some poor passing to rattle off seven straight points and eight of the final nine, overall, to score a 25-20 win in the opening set.
 
The Bombers battled back to tie the match at 1-1 with its strongest performance in the second set. IC used an 8-1 scoring run to take control of the frame at 14-5. Unlike the issues that plagued the squad during the first and third frames, IC kept the pedal to the metal in a dominant 25-16 win. Ithaca racked up 15 kills and hit .379 in the set.
 
The turning point in the match came during the third set. Leading 20-10, the Ducks scored on 13 of the next 16 rallies to tie the score at 23-apiece. Although the Bombers finally broke the string to earn a set-point opportunity, Stevens was able to force extra points with two consecutive points. Both sides staved off a pair of set-point chances, before the Ducks were able to string three straight points to close out a deflating frame for the Bombers 31-29.
 
With the momentum back in the hands of Stevens, the Ducks raced out to a big lead in the fourth frame and were able to hold off Ithaca down the stretch for a 25-20 win.
 
"I thought their serve presented some challenges for us," Dulfer said. "We had to contend with several out of system chances and we struggled to convert on those, which ultimately proved costly."
 
Ithaca was paced by senior outside hitter Joelle Goldstein. She finished with a match-high 15 kills on .257 hitting, while she notched the double-double with 12 digs. On the opposite pin, freshman Reagan Stone also posted a big outing with 13 kills on .200 hitting, while she chipped in two service aces, two block assists, and four digs. Senior Caroline Gerulskis also hit double-digits with 10 kills and notched one block assist.
 
In the middle, junior Amanda Cerruti led the way with six kills and three block assists. Junior Katie Evans posted five kills and a pair of block assists.
 
Sophomore setter Caitlyn Floyd also had a big effort with six kills on .500 hitting, while she collected 47 assists. She added a solo block, block assist, and five digs defensively.
 
Also marking kills on the night were junior Hailey Adler and freshman Sarah Jennison, who finished with one and two, respectively.
 
Behind the block, junior libero Tara Stilwell led IC with 14 digs, while she added a pair of service aces. Senior Marlee Wierda also posted two service aces and six digs, while classmate Kayla Gromen added on ace and nine digs.
 
"We will try to put tonight behind us and turn in a solid effort tomorrow," Dulfer concluded. "We have an opportunity to make a statement and I hope that we come out motivated tomorrow in a pair of challenging matches."
 
Ithaca returns to action tomorrow morning when it faces Eastern and sixth-ranked Carnegie Mellon in a doubleheader. The Bombers will begin play against the tournament hosts at 10:00 a.m., while they face the nationally-ranked Tartans at 12:00 p.m.