Ithaca, N.Y. – The No. 21 ranked Ithaca College volleyball team fell in the sweet sixteen of the NCAA Tournament in three sets to No. 6 New York University on Saturday evening.
The first set got out to a competitive start, being tied at 2-2 within the first four plays of the game. NYU soon was able to get their offense moving, putting them on a 5-0 run.
Ithaca College was able to enter them into the game thanks to
Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu and
Jamie Koopman with a pair of kills and an assisted block by Koopman and
Maddie Cox.
The teams fought back-and-forth, with the Bombers able to bring the score to 18-14, but NYU were able to win the next six points to build a 20-18 lead in favor of the Violets. With a block by
Jamie Koopman and a kill by
Naomi Clauhs, Ithaca was able to regain the lead making the score 21-20. NYU's offense was able to fight back and take the lead where the Bombers ended up falling in the first set 25-22.
The Bombers were off to a hot start in the second, grabbing the first two points of the set. The two teams were in a constant back and forth where the game was tied a total of 14 times throughout the second set.
The biggest rush of energy was from
Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu with a kill and a service ace back-to-back and
Naomi Clauhs with a following kill. The Violets and the Bombers were in a consistent battle for this set with big kills from
Ella Graper,
Faith Sabatier, and a service ace from
Ellie Benedict.
Ithaca was up 23-21 but NYU was willing and able to fight back. Tying the score at 24 began the tug-of-war in hopes to end the second set victorious. NYU was able to fight back and come up victorious ending the set 28-26 in favor of the Violets.
The third set was quickly mimicking what the first two sets looked like with a fast trading of points early on tying the score at 2-2 early on. NYU was able fight back with an explosive offense that brought the score to 8-6.
Faith Sabatier came out with a surge of energy with three kills in the middle of the set making the score 10-9 with the Bombers trailing. The Bombers defense came up short as NYU was putting offensive strings together as the match was closing out.
Ithaca was unable to give up on this set, where
Samantha Klemm tapping in a big kill, and a service ace from
Julia Costa. The Bombers were able to snatch the lead by one point, making it 18-17.
The score was tied six separate times as the match was coming to a close, where the Bombers were just unwilling to give up without a fight. In the end of the match, NYU finished the set with a service ace ending the match 23-25 in favor of the Violets, ending the game three sets to zero, NYU.
REACTION FROM HEAD COACH JOHAN DULFER
The Bombers bow out of the NCAA tournament in the sweet 16, finishing an impressive season with a 27-5 overall record that included an undefeated run in Liberty League conference play and its second in a row, Liberty League title.
