FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – The Ithaca College volleyball program took part in a tri-match on Saturday against two tough opponents in Mary Washington and Salisbury. The Bombers fell to the host Eagles in four sets before completing their second reverse sweep in as many days with a 3-2 comeback over Salisbury. With the split Ithaca's win streak was snapped but they still improved to 17-4 overall.
VS. MARY WASHINGTON (25-23, 29-31, 19-25, 19-25)
- Ithaca opened its day with a four-set loss to Mary Washington. The Bombers had four finish with double-digit kill totals as they were led by Faith Sabatier who totaled 12. Jamie Koopman, Leila Chipepo and Aleka Darko finished with 10 kills apiece. Grace Isaksen was solid with 20 digs and a pair of service aces. First year setter Maddie Cox had a season-best 51 assists in the loss.
- It was close in every set beginning with the first as Mary Washington went up 10-6 to force a coach Dulfer timeout. But the Bombers showed their usual grit and reeled off seven-straight, which included two huge kills from Jamie Koopman as they went up 13-10. The score eventually got deadlocked at 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 points apiece but Ithaca scored the final two of the set via another Koopman kill and an opponent attacking error.
- The second set was very much the same but this time the ties continued into extras. The Bombers thought they had the match at 26-25 with back-to-back points including an Aleka Darko kill. But the Eagles ended up prevailing scoring three-straight points after IC had them on the brink again at 29-28.
- Mary Washington took the third set 25-19. The Bombers never led in the decisive fourth as they got it close with two-straight points including a nice swing by Leila Chipepo that made it 20-19. But the Eagles scored the final five points to take the match.
VS. SALISBURY (17-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-18, 15-7)
- The match quickly was tied at eight points apiece to begin the first set as neither team was able to go up by more than two points until the 19-17 mark where the Sea Gulls closed it out on a 6-0 run to earn the 25-17 win.
- Salisbury continued to roll in the second set as they quickly went up 7-1. That early momentum proved to be enough to thwart a late IC push for a comeback as they closed it to 22-19 after a Peyton Miller service ace and Jennifer Pitts kill. The Sea Gulls prevailed to take the second set and earn the 2-0 lead with the 25-20 win.
- The reverse sweep began with the Bombers taking the third set 25-22. Momentum shifted in the Bombers favor with a 7-0 run in the middle portion of the set that saw Ithaca take a 20-15 lead after a Camryn O'Leary kill.
- The teams traded points in the fourth before Ithaca rattled off a five-point push to take the lead 17-11. The Bombers kept the set out of reach from their opponents as it didn't get closer than four down the stretch.
- The Bombers used the momentum with two-straight set wins to storm out to a 7-1 lead in the fifth that was capped with an Eli Gaskill service ace. Ithaca pushed for the win as the match point was capped off with an Alexandra Montgomery kill that was assisted by Peyton Miller.
- Miller totaled 28 assists on the afternoon along with seven digs. The Bombers hitters were led by Camryn O'Leary who totaled 10 kills.
REACTION FROM HEAD COACH JOHAN DULFER
"Today we played two very good opponents who showed us a level we hadn't seen in a while. I thought we got a little rattled when we didn't convert our set points against UMW to go up 2-0 in sets and then were too passive the rest of the way. Credit to Mary Washington for staying really aggressive and earning the win. After an exhausting match like that it was hard to claw our way back into yet another 5-set battle and I'm really proud of how we grew into the game and once again turned around the momentum on our opponents, like we did Thursday night. It was a true team effort."
Next up, the Bombers will return to Liberty League action on Tuesday when they travel to William Smith for a 6 p.m. match.
