ITHACA, N.Y. – The 16^th-ranked Ithaca College women's volleyball team had a quick turnaround on Saturday, as it made its return to Ben Light Gymnasium less than 24-hours following last night's four-set triumph in the North Country over St. Lawrence. Standing in the way of a momentum-building 2-0 start to Liberty League play was traditional league-power Clarkson, who bested the Bombers in last season's Liberty League Championship Match to earn the program's sixth-consecutive Liberty League title. The home cooking proved to be just what the doctor ordered for IC, as its relentless attack repeatedly punished Clarkson in a four-set triumph that gave Ithaca that crucial split-weekend sweep it was searching for. With the victory, Ithaca improves to 7-5 on the season and looks to be regaining its form as the team heads into the meat of its Liberty League schedule.
 
"Coming into today, we knew that if we could pull out a victory it was going to be very valuable for us," head coach Johan Dulfer said following the match. "When you play Clarkson, the thing that really stands out is the tenacious and outstanding defense that they play. While they had a little bit of a slow start tonight on that side, they really turned things on and were better and better at keeping plays alive and making us earn every point. For the second straight night I thought we did a good job of playing within ourselves, not trying to do too much, and at the end of the day we were able to pull out a key win."
 
Paving the way for IC's crucial victory was a barrage of purposeful swings from all over the court, as the Bombers nearly doubled the Golden Knights in kills with a 56-to-33 edge in the match. While things got a little off kilter for Ithaca in the second set, IC marked 16-, 17- and 16-kills in each of their three set wins. It was a quite an impressive display against the Liberty League's top blocking and digging unit.
 
"The whole match our mantra was to stay the course," Dulfer explained. "We did a good job of keep swinging and staying aggressive. I am happy about the adjustments we were able to make between the second and third sets. We settled down and committed to keeping things in play and it really served us well over the final two sets."
 
Leading the way offensively was a dynamic performance from IC's top pin-hitters in sophomore Reagan Stone and first-year Alison Lipton. Coming off a season-high 24 kills against St. Lawrence, Stone continued to swing the hot hand with a match-high 19 finishes on Saturday afternoon. She also added eight digs, one service ace, and one assist in the match. On the other side, Lipton marked 14 kills on a team-best .273 hitting success. The rookie added one block assist and one dig.
 
Also continuing her strong play on the outside was sophomore outside hitter Sarah Jennison. After a somewhat quiet start to the season, the New Jersey talent turned in her second straight strong effort on Saturday. Jennison finished with eight kills, while she added five digs, one block assist, and one assist.
 
In the middle, senior Katie Evans continued to provide some big contributions. She finished with nine kills, while also adding two block assists and four digs. Sophomore middle Katie Basey got the start alongside Evans, turning in one kill and one block assist. First-year Monet Peoples got into the match during the final frame, turning in one kill and one block assist.
 
Junior setter Caitlyn Floyd was incredibly smooth in dishing out sets to IC's array of hitters. She marked 48 assists and completed the double-double with 14 digs. The third-year setter also added two block assists, four kills, and one service ace. Sophomore Delaney Runyon added a team-best three service aces and added one dig in a specialist role.
 
Senior libero Tara Stilwell turned in a career-best performance for the Bombers against her former team. The Clarkson transfer was all over the court, finishing with 33 digs and an assist in a masterful passing performance. First-year Jordyn Lyn Hayashi just missed her second straight double-digit dig performance, finishing with nine and one service ace. Senior Hailey Adler garnered the start for the second straight match, posting seven digs, two service aces and two assists.
 
The storyline of the opening set was an 8-1 scoring run by the Bombers that turned a 7-5 deficit into a 13-8 lead midway through the set. Two kills by Floyd, three finishes from Lipton and two service aces from Adler highlighted the scoring run. Although Clarkson would later close the gap to a single point at 16-15, another 6-2 scoring surge for IC effectively sealed the first game. Evans and Stone headlined that second run with the former tallying two kills and the latter posting a kill and service ace. Lipton and Stone marked kills down the stretch to clinch the early one-set lead 25-21.
 
The second set was all about the errors for IC. The Bombers never found a rhythm throughout the entirety of the game, finishing with just seven kills and a negative-.136 hitting percentage with 13 attacking errors. Despite the lopsided 25-12 score line it was more about what IC was not doing than what Clarkson was, as the Golden Knights finished with just eight kills themselves in the frame.
 
When play resumed in the third set Ithaca found its purposeful hitting and never allowed Clarkson to get going in snatching back momentum with a dominant 25-12 win. A 9-1 scoring run midway through the frame really broke things open for the home side, turning an 11-8 lead into a 20-9 advantage. Stone scored three kills during the stretch, while Lipton, Evans and Jennison each added one kill apiece. Another kill from Stone, followed by an Evans spike and back-to-back kills from Lipton put an emphatic stamp on the third set and a 2-1 Ithaca advantage in the match.
 
Although IC started slow to begin the decisive fourth set the Bombers once again dominated the middle portion of the game. Trailing 12-7, Ithaca rattled off another lengthy 8-1 scoring surge to pull ahead 15-13, in the process exhausting both of Clarkson's timeouts. Peoples scored a kill and block assist during the run, while Stone tallied two kills and Runyon notched one of her three service aces during the stretch.
 
Clarkson scored two points out of the timeout to tie the match at 15-all, but a 4-0 scoring run for IC that featured three kills from Stone gave the home side a lead it would not relinquish. Evans tallied two kills and one block assist down the stretch, while Lipton capped the match with a hard kill down the line to seal the 25-21 win in the set and the match.
 
"Anytime you can start 2-0 that is absolutely huge when there are only seven matches in league play," Dulfer concluded. "Clarkson and St. Lawrence are going to be a challenge for the league to deal with and it feels great to get out of that tough start with a pair of wins that we can hopefully build on moving forward."
 
Ithaca returns to non-league play next week when it travels to SUNY Cortland for a 7:00 p.m. contest on Wednesday, September 26.