BALTIMORE, Md. – The nationally ranked No. 20 Ithaca College volleyball team squared off with (RV) Smith College on Friday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament winning in straight sets by scores of 25-22, 25-20 and 25-20. With the win, the Bombers improved to 24-6 overall and will take on the winner of No. 3 Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon in tomorrow's regional final that will be held on the campus of Johns Hopkins in Goldfarb Gymnasium.
 
The Bombers opened on a 2-0 run that included an opponent bad set and a service ace from Julia Costa. Smith would settle in to tie it but after a nice rally, senior Faith Sabatier came up with a big time kill. Ithaca continued to roll using a dump over kill from Wesley Slavin, and successful swings from Naomi Clauhs and Ella Graper that saw them build a 12-7 lead. The Pioneers would cut the deficit to one (15-14) before Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu stopped the opponent run with a kill that was assisted by Slavin, and that was immediately followed by a Smith attacking error and a Gonzalez-Abreu service ace.
 
The Pioneers called the first break in the action trailing 18-14 and scored two points out of the timeout. Ithaca maintained the slight edge with an Ella Graper kill that put them up 20-17 and were able to close the set out on a Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu kill (25-22).
 
The second set saw the Pioneers open with a 5-2 lead that was quickly erased with points scored on an Anaya Prince kill, opponent attacking error, and a Naomi Clauhs kill. The teams continued to trade points with Smith again building a slight lead, this time at 12-10. Again, Ithaca would fight back and tie it at 12 points apiece with back-to-back kills.
 
Momentum continued to shift in favor of IC with the Pioneers again forced into the first timeout after two-straight bad sets that had the Bombers up 17-15. Anaya Prince continued to be a presence at the net recording her fifth kill of the match out of the timeout as Ithaca stretched the lead to 19-15. The Bombers would build a 2-0 lead (25-20) closing out the set in impressive fashion, which included an Ella Graper block at the net. 
 
It was competitive again to begin the third with Ithaca opening in a 5-3 deficit. In the middle, Anaya Prince heated up and gave the Bombers the 6-5 advantage with another successful swing. It would stay tight through the middle of the set with neither team earning more than a two-point lead as they would again tie at 15-15 after kills from Gonzalez-Abreu and Prince. From there, Ithaca continued to roll and built a 19-16 advantage that forced the Pioneers into both of their timeouts. The Bombers would eventually close out the match and set with a Faith Sabatier kill that was assisted by Wesley Slavin, winning it 25-20.


 
The Bombers swung at a .207% clip with 40 kills totaled as both Anaya Prince and Naomi Clauhs finished with nine each. Ellie Benedict had a big match on defense with 16 digs, while Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu chipped in 12, along with three service aces.
 
Next up, Ithaca will take on Johns Hopkins in Saturday's regional championship match that will begin at 5 p.m. The winner will advance where the final eight teams will battle for the NCAA Division III Championship from December 4-7 at the Cregger Center in Salem, Virginia.