CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Ithaca College volleyball team returned to action on Friday evening as they took on No. 13 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The Bombers upset another nationally ranked program in four sets as after dropping the first they took the next three. With the win, Ithaca improves to 2-2 overall.
VS. NO. 13 MIT (15-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-20)
The Bombers opened the match with a big time kill from
Faith Sabatier and would go up 2-1 when
Jamie Koopman connected on her second swing using her prowess at the net. The teams would go on to trade points before MIT earned a four point lead at 8-4 that was cut off with back to back points off an attacking error and a
Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu kill. The first break in the matchup came after head coach
Johan Dulfer called a timeout with IC trailing 11-6. MIT continued to surge out of the timeout as they continued a scoring run and built a 18-8 lead. The Engineers ended up taking the set 25-15.
Ithaca scored the first point of the second set with a
Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu kill and would go up 3-1 with kills from
Ella Graper and
Jamie Koopman. A mini MIT run was quickly stopped with an opponent attacking error and another successful Koopman swing that put the Bombers up 9-5. The Engineers went on another spurt following a timeout but out of the break IC reestablished momentum after an opponent service error and
Faith Sabatier kill putting them up 13-9. The Bombers continued pressing earning an 18-13 advantage and were forced into a timeout of their own leading 21-19. They showed their composure out of the break and took the set with an
Ella Graper kill.
Despite MIT opening with a 3-0 advantage Ithaca roared back with good swings that connected from Gonzalez-Abreu and Sabatier as they would go up 5-4. Both teams were locked in as they battled with the Engineers opening a 14-11 advantage. The Bombers continued to claw back and would tie it up at 16 points apiece on the heels of an attacking error and another kill from
Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu. This proved to be the most competitive set of the match as a
Faith Sabatier kill made it 21-21 and the Bombers quieted the home crowd continuing the run with points from
Ella Graper and Gonzalez-Abreu. After forcing an Engineers timeout, ended up taking the set 25-22 to earn the 2-1 lead.
Ithaca scored the first point of the fourth set courtesy of an
Ellie Benedict service ace and built an early 12-7 lead. Coming out of an MIT timeout, Ithaca continued to connect on its swings with consecutive kills from Sabatier and Gonzalez-Abreu that put them up 16-8. A four-point home swing made it 16-12, and the Engineers were forced into a timeout at 23-19. The Bombers ended up closing out the set and match with a
Faith Sabatier kill.
REACTION FROM HEAD COACH JOHAN DULFER
"I thought we responded very well to our challenging them in between sets one and two," Dulfer said. "That showed a lot of maturity. Our serving and passing really settled in at the start of the second set and that proved to be the difference. If we choose to play together and with tenacity, we can be a pretty good team."
"I'm just so proud of how together we were, bench and court, just heartwarming and impressive. That's the signature of great teams. I hope we took the next step in our growth today."
The Bombers will return to action tomorrow when they take on Endicott College (11:00 a.m.) and Keene State (3:00 p.m.) in the back half of the MIT Invitational.
