ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 22 ranked Ithaca College volleyball were challenged in the second set in Friday's Liberty League semifinal against the Vassar College, but the Bombers buckled down and secured a four set win to advance to tomorrow evenings championship match. Ithaca dominated the first set taking it 25-11 but fell 26-24 in the second before reeling off 25-16 and 25-15 wins to beat the visiting Brewers.
VS. VASSAR (25-11, 24-26, 25-16, 25-15)
The Bombers as the No. 1 seed used the friendly confines of Ben Light Gymnasium and will hope to do so in tomorrow's championship match using the crowds energy to build momentum. Ithaca would score four in a row, which included three Brewer attacking errors and kills from
Samantha Klemm and
Naomi Clauhs going up 12-6. They continued to roll scoring 10 of the next 13 points and were up 23-9 after a successful swing from
Jamie Koopman. It was another kill from Koopman that closed the set for Ithaca in their favor 25-11.
Vassar would turn things around in the second reeling momentum at the service line with multiple aces within the set. The Brewers built an early 9-3 lead on the heels of a Melia Voss ace and Maura McAusland kill. The Bombers would comeback and tie it at 11 points apiece and then 12-12 with a
Naomi Clauhs kill. Three aces in the next stretch of play put Vassar up 18-12 and T Petro added another ace putting her team up 20-13. Ithaca would make things quite interesting fighting back to trail by one on an
Ella Graper kill that was assisted by
Maddie Cox (23-22). The Bombers would then tie it 24-24 but an IC service error and an attacking error gave Vassar the win to even it up at 1-1.
Sophomore setter,
Maddie Cox surpassed 1,000 career assists during the second set as she helped the Bombers to a 7-2 lead in the third assisting on a
Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu effort. The Brewers would bring it within two scoring four in a row (13-11), but Ithaca responded reeling off seven of the next 10 points as IC was up 20-13 after an opponent's bad set. The Bombers scored the final three points of the set and closed it off with a big time kill of a service return from
Naomi Clauhs.
It was mostly all Ithaca in the fourth and final set as they real took the momentum and saw back-to-back kills from
Jamie Koopman and
Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu that made it 17-9. A kill at the net from
Ella Graper and another Vassar bad set saw Ithaca leading by 10 at 23-13. The Bombers punched their ticket to the Liberty League Championship with another Graper kill and a Vassar attacking error defeating the Brewers 25 - 15.
Ithaca swung at a .374% clip and had 15 kills in the fourth set. The Bombers were led by both
Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu and
Naomi Clauhs who had 13 kills apiece with
Peyton Miller adding three aces and 14 digs.
REACTION FROM HEAD COACH JOHAN DULFER
"I thought Vassar played the best we've seen them this year and I love how they fought without fear," remarked Dulfer. "That's a huge credit to them and their coach. I'm grateful we advance to fight for another Liberty League Championship and am excited for tomorrow."
Ithaca College will take on No. 2 William Smith as the Herons beat No. 3 Clarkson in Friday's other semifinal matchup (27-25, 25-20, 25-21). The Bombers will square off with William Smith in the championship match at 5 p.m. on Saturday as Ithaca bested the Herons in three sets in the regular season on October 17.
