ITHACA, N.Y. - The nationally ranked No. 22 Ithaca College volleyball team swept the (RV) William Smith Herons in three sets (25-10, 25-15, 25-15) in the Liberty League Championship game on Saturday afternoon as the Bombers captured their third-straight conference title.
In the first set the Bombers and Herons traded points, with neither tram getting more than a two-point lead until the Bombers churned out three-point run to take a 9-5 lead. The Bombers got their points off a bad set, a kill from
Faith Sabatier, and a service ace
Wesley Slavin. The Bombers then took control of the set with a seven-point run that had three attack errors, three kills, and a service ace. Ithaca then put together another three-point run, and five-point run to close out the set 25-10. The Bombers saw four opponent attack errors, two kills
Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu, and two service aces from Gonzalez-Abreu.
In the second set the Ithaca got off to a rough start as they fell behind 8-1 to the Herons. The Bombers were the cause of most of their own misfortune as they had three attack errors and a bad set. The Bombers then flipped the script and showed their grit to take the lead. Several opponent hitting errors allowed them to get 14 out of the next 19 points to take a 16-12 lead.
The Bombers were able to close out the set by capitalizing on even more William Smith mistakes alongside
Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu who had two kills and a service ace and
Anaya Prince who also had a kill. Ithaca finished the set with a final score of 25-15.
In the third set, Ithaca got off to a good start taking a 5-1 lead off a kill from Gonzalez-Abreu, a service ace from
Ella Graper, two attack errors, and a kill from
Anaya Prince. However, the Herons would come back to make the score close at 9-8 with Ithaca leading.
Ithaca then started to take command of the set with a five-point run that had an attack error and four kills with three kills coming from
Faith Sabatier and one kill from Gonzalez-Abreu. The Herons fought back with a couple of short runs, but it was not enough as the Bombers closed out the set with back-to-back kills from
Naomi Clauhs and
Faith Sabatier to win 25-15.
Ella Graper was named the most outstanding performer for the Ithaca College Bombers in the Liberty League Tournament as the junior proved to be a difference maker at the net in the championship match. Graper finished with three kills and seven blocks, which included five block solos that really ignited the crowd in Ben Light Gymnasium.
Sophomore outside hitter
Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu also had an outstanding championship putting together a match-high 12 kills and while serving up three aces.
The Bombers once again punched their ticket into the NCAA Division III Championship tournament with the Liberty League's automatic berth and will wait and see who they will play next on Monday, November 18 with the NCAA Selection Show. The NCAA Selection show and the 64-team field will be revealed on
NCAA.com. This year's 64-team tournament begins with regionals on Thursday, Nov. 21. The final eight teams will battle for the championship from Dec. 4-7 at the Cregger Center in Salem, Virginia.
