SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The No. 19 ranked Ithaca College volleyball team opened its 2024 campaign on Friday taking down the Springfield Pride in three-straight sets. Ithaca managed sets wins of 25-22, 25-22 and 25-23 against a strong Springfield squad that received votes in the preseason AVCA Coaches Poll that was released on Tuesday. The Bombers will play two more matches on Saturday as part of the season-opening Springfield College Invitational.
REACTION FROM HEAD COACH TARA STILWELL
"Overall, this was a great opening match to our season as we were tested throughout, but we maintained our composure and played within our system," said Stilwell. "Our blocking and passing was really good and it enabled us to fight back when Springfield was able to string momentum together."
The Bombers kicked off the season with a bang, as senior
Faith Sabatier scored the first point with a successful kill, assisted by
Wesley Slavin. Building on this momentum, Ithaca took a 3-1 lead with another kill from
Anaya Prince, also assisted by Slavin. The teams traded points until IC went on a three-point streak, including the first kill of the season from
Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu, putting them up 10-7. The set remained highly competitive, and following a Springfield timeout, the Pride went on a 6-2 run to take an 18-17 lead.
The Bombers stayed composed, scoring back-to-back points to regain a 19-18 lead with a Slavin dump over and another Sabatier kill. After the Pride tied it at 19, Gonzalez-Abreu and
Naomi Clauhs each had successful swings, forcing another timeout. Head coach
Tara Stilwell called a timeout after the Pride tied it at 22, but two opponent attacking errors and a kill from Clauhs clinched the set for Ithaca.
Leading 1-0, Ithaca once again scored the first point of the second set with another Sabatier kill, assisted by Slavin. The teams traded points until Springfield went on a four-point run, forcing an IC timeout at 8-4. Springfield maintained a four-point lead, going up 12-8 after a kill from Jodi Saelua. The Bombers fought back, tying it at 13 after
Peyton Miller assisted an
Ella Graper kill. Ithaca kept the momentum, forcing two Springfield timeouts, the second after back-to-back Prince kills which put them up 23-19. IC won the set 25-22, with the final point scored on another Sabatier kill.
The third set was tightly contested, with neither team pulling away by more than a point or two. Following a timeout, the Pride scored four in a row to take a 17-14 lead, the largest of the set. IC fought back with kills from Prince and Sabatier, but Springfield maintained a 19-18 lead after a Maeve Voltz kill. Ithaca capitalized on two consecutive attacking errors to win the set 25-23 and take the match in straight sets.
The Bombers connected on 15 kills in both the first and third sets, swinging .306 in the opening set win. The team also collected eight blocks, with Prince managing a team-high five, and Sabatier and Graper each totaling 10 kills.
Next up, Ithaca will take on Rivier University at 10 a.m. on Saturday followed by a matchup against the (RV) Stevens Ducks at 12:30 p.m.
