POTSDAM, N.Y. – Coming off an emphatic victory over St. Lawrence University in its Liberty League home opener on Friday night, the Ithaca College volleyball team hit the road to face another North Country foe on Saturday afternoon when it faced perennial Liberty League power Clarkson University in Potsdam. The Bombers scored a thrilling comeback victory over the Golden Knights, winning three straight sets in emphatic fashion after dropping the opening set of the match (19-25, 25-15, 25-16, 25-19). The victory pulls Ithaca into third place in the League standings with a 3-1 mark, while it holds the tiebreaker on Clarkson and is still firmly in thick of things for the regular season title.
 
"I thought we really grew into the match today," head coach Johan Dulfer said post-match. "Clarkson pushed back hard after our initial lead in the first set, as you would expect from a program as good as theirs is. I'm glad we were able to counter with lots of purpose, which ultimately was the reason we were able to pull out the match."
 
The Bombers dominated the match from a statistical perspective. IC out-paced the home Golden Knights 64-to-34 in kills, hitting at a scintillating .303 clip against one of the strongest blocks in the Liberty League. IC posted no less than 14 kills in any of the four sets, which included a season-best 21 winners in a dominant third set.
 
The Bombers had a season-high five players notch double-digit kills on the evening. Freshman Reagan Stone continued her big weekend, marking a match-high and career-best 18 kills on the afternoon. She hit a scalding .485 for the match, her second time topping .400 on the weekend and fifth time on the year. The rookie also chipped in a pair of assists and digs, as well as a block assist.
 
Joining Stone's big night on the interior were juniors Katie Evans and Amanda Cerruti. Both players mustered 11 kills, Cerruti hitting .400, while Evans finishing at a .273 hitting mark on the night. Cerruti added two solo blocks and one block assist, while Evans had the reversed stat line with one solo and two block assists.
 
At the pins, senior Joelle Goldstein led the way with 12 kills on a .250 hitting percentage. She notched her sixth double-double of the season, chipping in 10 digs and two service aces. At the opposite pin, fellow senior Caroline Gerulskis equaled a season high with 10 kills on a .227 hitting percentage. She also contributed on the defense, carding a solo block and block assist. Junior Hailey Adler registered two kills, one service ace, and five digs in a complimentary effort.
 
Sophomore setter Caitlyn Floyd had a career match against the Golden Knights. She ran the offense to perfection in racking up a career-best 53 assists, while nearly notching a double-double of her own with seven digs.
 
The Bombers were paced on the ground by junior libero Tara Stilwell, who repeatedly denied her old team of kills, finishing with a team-best 18 digs. She also added two service aces. Senior Kayla Gromen posted 11 digs, the sixth time this season she has amassed double digits. Senior Marlee Wierda added a service ace for IC.
 
Like was mentioned earlier, IC looked to have things in control throughout much of the opening set. However, a late 8-0 run by the Golden Knights turned an 18-15 lead into a 23-18 deficit for the Bombers. Despite eventually letting the opening frame slip away, Ithaca had found a formula it knew it could exploit throughout the remainder of the match.
 
Ithaca climbed back into the match with a comfortable win in the second frame to tie the match at 1-1. Sparking the Bombers was a 7-1 run midway through the set, which lifted IC to a 13-7 lead. Goldstein, Evans and Adler marked kills during the run, while Stilwell capped it with a service ace. Stone and Cerruti added to IC's lead with a latter scoring a kill and a solo block during a 4-1 run. Ithaca closed the second frame on a 4-0 run, highlighted by a kill from Goldstein.
 
The match swung in the visitors favor during a momentum turning third set. IC racked up a season-best 21 kills during the frame to pull ahead for the first time on the night. The Bombers got started early with another 7-1 run, which included kills from Goldstein, Stone, Gerulskis and Cerruti, as well as a service ace from Adler. A subsequent 6-0 scoring streak, punctuated by a pair of kills from Cerruti gave IC a comfortable lead it would see out in the 25-16 win.
 
The Bombers ensured the match would not go the distance by continuing its penchant for scoring points in bunches during the decisive fourth set. IC posted three 4-0 scoring runs and another 3-0 run in the frame to slowly pull away for the match win. Stone posted five kills in the fourth set, while Cerruti finished with four.
 
"We really swung for it tonight," Dulfer concluded. "What perhaps makes me the most proud of our performance tonight was how much enjoyment I saw from our entire group."
 
Ithaca returns to action this coming Wednesday, October 11, when it welcomes SUNY Cortland for a non-conference matchup in Ben Light Gymnasium. Match time is 6:00 p.m.