ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 24 ranked Ithaca College volleyball team returned to action on Saturday fresh off them winning the Liberty League regular season title the evening prior as the Bombers gritted out a four-set non-conference win over the University of Scranton. The Royals took the first set, but Ithaca roared back to win three-straight to improve to 21-4 overall while Scranton dropped to 14-10.
VS. SCRANTON (20-25, 25-12, 25-18, 25-23)
The University of Scranton reeled off a 4-1 lead after a service ace from Camryn Hoffman, but the Bombers came back and tied it with back-to-back points coming via a
Naomi Clauhs kill and an opponent attacking error making it 5-5. The teams would continue to trade points with ties coming at eight and 10 points apiece. The Royals were able to capture the momentum going up 16-13, but
Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu brought her team within one (16-15) with a pair of successful swings at the net. The visitors continued to press the Bombers and would regain a sound lead at 22-18 after a Deanna Whelpley kill and an attacking error from Clauhs. Scranton would gain the 1-0 lead in the match taking the first set after a kill by Stephanie Margolies. That was the best the Royals hit all afternoon at 0.182% and the lowest the Bombers would display as they had 10 errors within the set.
Scranton would once again open up with early leads at 3-1 and later on at 6-5, but the Bombers grabbed the momentum with five-straight points to go up 10-6 as they had good hits to force the Royals into attacking errors offensively. It was all Ithaca in the middle portion of the set as an
Ellie Benedict service ace to close out another strong run put her team up 19-10. The Bombers scored the final two points coming on a Gonzalez-Abreu kill and a Stephanie Margolies hitting error.
Ithaca opened the third set and continued to roll as the team built a 13-7 lead following a
Maddie Cox service ace. The Royals would pull within four at 15-11, but a 3-0 run followed this time capped off by a
Peyton Miller ace making it 18-11.
Julia Costa joined the party with an ace when she rotated to the line and
Maddie Cox followed it up with a dump over making it 23-14. The Bombers ended up taking it at 25-18.
Playing like they did in the opening set, the University of Scranton built a 10-5 advantage with a pair of Erin Keaveney kills that swung momentum in her teams favor. The Bombers would begin to mount their comeback going on a 7-4 run that brought the match to 14-12 that was highlighted by back to back kills from
Naomi Clauhs and
Ella Graper. The Royals forced IC into a timeout to regroup as they had a 19-13 lead, but after
Alexandra Montgomery subbed in, the Bombers scored six-straight to tie it up. The Bombers showed their composure and after it was tied at 22 points apiece, Ithaca scored three of the next four points and were assisted by a pair of opponent service errors.
The top-hitter of the afternoon was Gabriella Gonzalez-Abreu with 14 kills followed by
Naomi Clauhs who finished with 12.
Maddie Cox had 38 assists and
Ellie Benedict led all student-athletes with three aces.
REACTION FROM HEAD COACH JOHAN DULFER
I think we learned a valuable lesion today about competing and what it takes to push back after an opponent challenges you," remarked Dulfer. " Scranton played very well at times and especially in the fourth set where their numbers were very good. It was satisfying to see us match their intensity and overcome a good rally from them late in the fourth."
"I'm especially proud of the contributions we received towards the end from players that didn't start the match and I'm happy that they got to make the huge impact that they did. Our goal is to win a championship and you can't do that with six players. You need 15 to do it. Everyone has a role and everyone contributes every day and every week in practice and the level in our gym is consistently so high because of the competitiveness. Today we got to see evidence of how deep our team is."
Ithaca College will close out the regular season competing in the Wid Guisler Invitational in Huntingdon, Pa. where IC will square off against St. John Fisher on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and Ohio Wesleyan University at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
