ROCHESTER, N.Y. – In the evenings second semifinal match of the Liberty League volleyball championships, the Ithaca College volleyball program battled the No. 3 seeded Clarkson University and the Bombers gritted out a four-set match with the Golden Knights coming out on top on Friday evening. Ithaca won the first set 25-16, before dropping the next three by scores of 23-25, 25-27 and 19-25.

The first set started well for the Bombers as they had showed strong play on the defensive backline and scored the first point of the match and built an 8-3 advantage after two-straight attacking errors by Clarkson. Out of the break, Ithaca kept rolling with a Paris Buckner ace and Jaelyn Hershberger kill that forced another Golden Knights timeout with IC leading 12-3. They never let up the offensive pressure within the first set as a Camryn O'Leary kill followed by a service ace via Laura Severance saw the Bombers lead at 18-8. At set-point (24-16) Ithaca went up 1-0 with the final point scored by another kill from a powerful swing by Camryn O'Leary. Senior Jordyn Lyn Hayashi produced eight digs within the opening set.

Clarkson flipped the script as they got off to hot-start building a 6-3 lead, but the Bombers tied it up with an O'Leary kill after a long rally and went up 8-6 after a service ace from Laura Severance that caught the defense off guard as it tipped the net. IC went on another mini run scoring four-straight points that saw them build a 13-8 lead and they gained breathing room at 16-11 with a Jaelyn Hershberger kill. The Golden Knights rattled off five-straight points to go up 18-17 and coach Johan Dulfer called a timeout to calm the nerves of his squad. The No. 2 and No. 3 seeds of the tournaments battled each other down the stretch trading points as Clarkson scored three in a row to make it 23-20 and tied it up at 1-1 with the 25-23 win.

With the match tied, Ithaca College opened the third set building a 4-1 advantage and within the start was another Laura Severance service ace. The Golden Knights were forced into a timeout after four-straight IC points including another ace this time from Paris Buckner that put her team up 9-5. After trading points back-and-forth Ithaca built momentum along the way to a 16-12 lead. They eventually called a timeout in the action of their own with the Bombers up 20-19 and they found themselves tied up at 23 points apiece. They eventually went into extras with Clarkson taking the set 27-25.

The beginning of the fourth set proved to be closely contested as the Golden Knights continued to ride their momentum and established an 9-7 lead after back-to-back kills. Ithaca fought back for the tie at 11 points apiece but saw themselves down again at 14-11 that forced another break in the action with a timeout. The Bombers were never able to gain the lead in the set, but they battled to the end before falling 25-19.

Alison Lipton and Faith Sabatier were the top hitters for Ithaca as they each totaled nine kills apiece. Jordyn Lyn Hayashi finished with a match-high 29 digs.

Ithaca will now turn its sights to Monday's NCAA Tournament unveiling, which will be live streamed on NCAA.com at 12:30 p.m.