ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's volleyball made its highly-anticipated home debut on Friday when the Bombers kicked off the first day of action at the 2017 Bomber Invitational in Ben Light Gymnasium. Ithaca had a fantastic opening day of matches, chalking up a pair of impressive straight-set victories over Franklin & Marshall (25-14, 25-21, 25-21) and 22^nd-ranked Mary Washington (25-19, 25-23, 25-14).
 
"I think today was really something the team was looking forward to," head coach Johan Dulfer said following the Bombers dominant victory over the nationally-ranked Eagles in the nightcap. "I thought we did an excellent job of managing or energy and our emotions and that can really be attributed to the experience we were able to gain through playing those big matches in the first two weeks of the season. Having an awesome crowd behind us, I thought we handled that pressure well today and performed well."


Ithaca kicked off the first day of action in Ben Light Gymnasium with a dominant straight-sets victory over Franklin & Marshall (25-14, 25-21, 25-21). The Bombers were clinical on both sides of the ball racking up a .234 hitting percentage as a team, while holding a Diplomats squad that entered the day with a 6-1 record to just .037 hitting on 109 attacks.
 
Back on their home court for the first time this season, the Bombers raced out to a 3-0 advantage on the strength of an Amanda Cerruti kill and a service ace from Tara Stilwell.  IC translated the fast start to a 9-4 advantage, prompting a F&M timeout.
 
Ithaca took control of the opening set on the strength of an 8-1 run midway through the frame. Hailey Adler registered two kills during the run, while Joelle Goldstein gave IC a 19-9 lead with a thunderous kill down the line. The Bombers closed out the set with a 5-1 run after the Diplomats closed the gap to 20-13. Cerruti came up big with a kill and a block assist during the final stretch, while Taylor McCarthy finished off the game with a powerful kill down the line. IC finished with 11 kills and a .200 hitting percentage on 35 attacks during the first set.
 
The Diplomats punched back during the early portion of the second set, jumping out to an 8-4 advantage, prompting an early Ithaca timeout. Coach Dulfer regrouped the squad during the respite, as IC quickly erased the gap as McCarthy and Katie Evans each registered a kill and block assist during the middle stretch of the set.
 
"We have a timeout management system that allows the players on the bench to feed in a ton of information to our team," Dulfer explained. "It is a total team effort and it really makes us better when we get that break to have our plug-in moment during those timeouts."
 
The two sides traded scores down the home stretch, with Franklin & Marshall taking a 20-19 lead late in the frame. A 5-0 scoring run for the Bombers helped Ithaca take a commanding two-sets-to-none lead in the match. Cerruti drove down a kill to spark the crucial stretch, while she later posted a block solo and a combined block with Reagan Stone on consecutive points to lift IC to a 24-20 lead. Stone finished off the set two rallies later with a big kill down the middle.
 
Clearly in the rhythm, Ithaca posted its best set of the opening match in the third. Ithaca racked up a match-high 14 kills as a team and hit .258 on 31 attacks to again score a 25-21 set win.
 
It was another late run that lifted IC to victory, as the home side rattled off five straight points to turn a 17-16 deficit into a 21-17 advantage. McCarthy picked up two kills during the streak, while Kayla Gromen marked one of her two service aces in the contest. Kills by Evans, Goldstein and Cerruti down the stretch closed out the match.
 
Goldstein paced the Bombers with eight kills on 17 attacks, posting a .353 hitting percentage. The IC senior also marked eight digs in the contest. On the opposite pin, McCarthy posted six kills, while she added two digs and two block assists. Adler registered five kills (.133 hitting) and a pair of digs.
 
Cerruti had a huge two-way game, finishing with seven kills on nine attacks (.778 hitting), while also posting one solo block and four block assists. Fellow middle Evans had five kills on 11 attempts (.364 hitting), chipping in one solo block and two block assists. Stone finished with three kills on 11 attacks (.182 hitting), adding four block assists.
 
Floyd paced the Bombers in the setting department with 17 assists. Gromen chipped in 13 helpers and the two aforementioned service aces in addition to her eight digs. Stilwell paced the Bombers with 16 digs in the match.
 
Carrying the momentum into the nightcap, Ithaca blitzed nationally-ranked Mary Washington in one of the most complete efforts the program has posted since Dulfer took the helm of the program last fall. The Bombers out-killed the Eagles 46-to-27 in the match, hitting a scathing .353 in an all-round effort against a squad that finished 2016 ranked inside the final AVCA Top-10.
 
Feeding off the energy from a raucous crowd in Ben Light Gymnasium, IC raced out to a fast start to take an early 6-1 lead. Three different players notched kills during the run, as Goldstein started the match with a loud kill down the line, while McCarthy and Stone each notched a pair.
 
Although Mary Washington cut into the deficit, a 7-1 scoring run blew the set open at 17-9 midway through the frame. Evans tallied a kill during the streak, while Goldstein put the cap on the set-clinching run with a pair of service aces. The Bombers continued to lean on Stone, Cerruti and Goldstein down the stretch, with Goldstein sealing the final two IC points on emphatic kills. Ithaca registered 14 kills and hit .346 in the opening frame win, showing a highlight of what was to come throughout the match.
 
"We heard that they were a great serving team coming into the game, but I thought we did a great job of neutralizing that," Dulfer continued. "They are such an athletic team to play against, but we noticed as the match went on that they got away from the jump serve, as we tried to force them to do some different things out on the court. It takes a good team to take advantage of the things that are offered on the court and I thought we did an excellent job of pressuring them into playing the match the way we wanted to."
 
Ithaca continued to rack up scoring runs in the second set. A 7-0 run helped the team establish another comfortable lead, as Goldstein and Stone perpetuated their strong efforts. Stone sparked the run with back-to-back kills, while Goldstein recorded another ace in helping IC grab an 8-3 advantage.
 
The margin held firm until a 7-1 run by the Eagles closed the gap to a single point at 22-21 late in the second frame. The Bombers turned to their heavy hitters to close the set out, scoring three of the final five rallies to take the set 25-23. Goldstein picked up two kill on great finesse plays, while Stone closed out the frame with a court-shaking cross-court spike from the right pin to seal a big two-sets-to-none advantage.
 
"We have made some changes with a few players in practice and I think tonight we really started to see the benefits of that hard work," Dulfer explained. "Our goal is to maximize every advantage that we can on the court and I think that we are getting better at identifying those opportunities every day."
 
With a big lead in the match, Ithaca eliminated any hope of a comeback from their dangerous opponent. The Bombers racked up an astounding 18 kills on .536 hitting during the final set to run away with the 25-14 win and the match.
 
Stone picked up five of her match-high 14 kills during the third set, finishing with a scintillating .875 hitting percentage. The IC rookie added a pair of block assists in her best effort as a collegiate player. Goldstein picked up her fourth double-double of the year, registering 12 kills on .348 hitting and adding 10 digs. McCarthy finished the game with six kills and three digs.
 
In the middle, Cerruti posted six kills on .300 hitting, while Evans tallied five kills and a pair of block assists.
 
Second-year setter Caitlyn Floyd had a huge effort in the match, posting a career-high 41 assists, while also picking up two big kills in the third set. Tara Stilwell also notched a kill, two assists, and a team-best 11 digs. Freshman Nicole Cherro chipped in four digs, while Hailey Adler and Kayla Gromen each added a service ace.
 
"We always stressed to the team that we have to take each situation as zero-zero," Dulfer concluded. "Tonight I think we played more dynamic than we have ever been to this point in the year, but we start again fresh tomorrow. It's a new slate and we know that we have to bring our best effort to the court in order to be the team that we know we can be."
 
Ithaca concludes the Bomber Invitational in the final match on Saturday, as it goes against New Paltz at 4:00 p.m.