ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 22 ranked Ithaca College volleyball team once again had a fantastic regular season with a 23-4 overall record and 8-0 mark within the Liberty League as they've reeled off eight-straight victories heading into postseason play. The Bombers are also 8-1 in Ben Light Gymnasium, which will host both Friday's Liberty League semifinal matches as well as the championship. Ithaca who claimed the No. 1 seed will take on No. 4 Vassar College at 4 p.m. as the Brewers defeated No. 5 Skidmore in four sets in Tuesday's quarterfinals. And then at 6:30 p.m., No. 2 William Smith will then take on the No. 3 seeded Clarkson Golden Knights who defeated RIT in five sets.
 
Fans can follow along with both the Ithaca/Vassar semifinal as well as the William Smith/Clarkson semifinal and the championship match via a video webcast and live stats.
 
LIBERTY LEAGUE HISTORY:
The Bombers are looking to make it back-to-back Liberty League Championships after winning the 2022 championship in thrilling fashion over Clarkson. Always a highly contested matchup come postseason play, Ithaca had lost to Clarkson in each of its previous four Liberty League tournament appearances, three losses in the finals and one in a semifinal matchup. But the Bombers overcame that winning an epic five-setter as they dropped the first and third sets, but won the second, fourth and the decisive fifth by a 15-12 score.
 
Vassar College has won six titles- 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006
 
Union College has won twice- 2007 and 2008
 
Clarkson has been crowned champions nine times- 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2021
 
Ithaca won it's first-ever championship during the 2022 season
 
Skidmore has one championship in that time frame- 2011
 
St. Lawrence has one Liberty League Championship- 2010
 
RIT has won the championship once- 2018
 
SCOUTING VASSAR
The Brewers are advancing to their first Liberty League Semifinals since 2018 as they earned a 23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 27-25 victory over fifth-seeded Skidmore on Tuesday evening. They're riding a six-match winning streak holding a record of 17-9 overall and 6-2 in Liberty League matchups. Vassar was defeated by No. 22 Ithaca in three sets on October 21 as IC came out in the first set with high energy and great momentum. The Bombers won by scores of 25-9, 25-15 and 25-16.
 
Players to watch for Vassar include a pair of first years in Holland Kaplan and Maura McAusland with Kaplan leading the team in kills with 296 and digs with 198. McAusland is second on the team in kills with 261 while leading the squad in aces with 44. The pair have combined to win Liberty League Rookie of the Week five times this year.
 
SCOUTING ITHACA
Ithaca College moved up to No. 22 in the most recent AVCA top-25 coaches poll as they feature a dangerous offensive attack, leading the conference in many of the statistical categories, they also rank in the top-15 nationally in both hitting percentage (.252) and kills per set (13.47).
 
First year Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu has made an immediate impact with the program winning LL Rookie of the Week on three separate occasions as she leads the squad with 268 kills and is third with 28 aces. Senior middle Jamie Koopman has been potent as ever at the net tallying 225 kills, while leading the team in blocks with 60. Sophomore duo Ella Graper and Maddie Cox have put together 58 blocks and 343 assists, respectively. First year Welsey Slavin has also dished out 552 assists and leads the Liberty League averaging 10.22 assists per set.
 
SCOUTING WILLIAM SMITH
The Herons enter the championship weekend with a 14-9 overall record and clinched the No. 2 seed in the postseason tournament after a three-way tie breaker with Clarkson and Vassar as each finished 6-2 within the Liberty League.
 
William Smith have hit at a .164 clip with sophomore Malya Sayre leading the team with 350 kills, averaging 4.07 per set, which is tops within the conference. The Herons also lead the league in aces, averaging 2.78 per set as a team with Elaina Wamhoff leading the way with 54. Wamhoff has also dished out 718 assists this season.
 
SCOUTING CLARKSON
The Golden Knights defeated RIT in a thrilling five set match in Tuesday's quarterfinal (17-25, 26-24, 25-20, 20-25, 15-11). With the win, Clarkson improved to 14-11 overall as they also finished 6-2 during the regular season within the Liberty League. They feature a pair of players to watch in Abigail Spector and Sara Galante.
 
Galante leads Clarkson with 290 kills, averaging 3.22 per set, which is fourth best in the league. Abigail Spector leads the Liberty League in digs per set with 4.89. The Golden Knights fell in five at William Smith on October 7 by scores of 25-16, 25-11, 24-26, 22-25 and 10-15.
 
THE NCAA DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP:
The 2023 NCAA Division III volleyball selections will be revealed on Monday, November 13 at 1 p.m. via a selection show on NCAA.com. This will be the sports 42nd year of crowning an NCAA champion as Juniata were crowned the 2022 champions after defeating Trinity (Texas), 3-0.
 
Here's what you need to know.
 
When: The 2023 DIII volleyball championship selections will be revealed at 1 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 13
Where: The selections and bracket will be released on NCAA.com.
 
The winner of the Liberty League will receive an automatic bid, Ithaca was ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division III Region III rankings that were released on Nov. 5.