Taylor Kaznowski '19 guided the women's volleyball team to a pair of wins last week, including a thrilling five-set win at home over Wells and a four-set defeat of Utica, EC's first conference victory of the 2017 season. During that four-match stretch, she amassed 168 assists, 38 digs, eight aces and three total blocks. More importantly, during Saturday's E8 Crossover in Utica, New York, Kaznowski became just the eighth player in program history to surpass the 2,000-assist milestone.
The junior setter began the week with back-to-back double-doubles. On the road in a 3-2 loss to Alfred on Tuesday, Kaznowski dished out 41 assists to go along with 13 digs. Two days later at Spiedel Gymnasium, she compiled an impressive stat line with 44 assists, 13 digs, four kills, four aces and two blocks, as the Soaring Eagles overcame a looming deficit in the fifth set to beat the Wells Express, 3-2. In a pair of E8 matches against St. John Fisher and Utica on Saturday, Kaznowski registered a combined 83 assists, including a season-high 53 in a 3-1 victory over the host Pioneers. She also tied her season-high with four aces in addition to seven digs versus UC.
On the season, Kaznowski ranks second in the Empire 8 with a 9.07 assists per set average. With 617 assists through the first 20 matches of the 2017 campaign, the Hamburg, New York, native has increased her career total to 2,067, eighth-most in EC history.
Kaznowski and the rest of the Soaring Eagles will resume play on Tuesday, October 10, when Elmira heads to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for a non-conference match against the Pennsylvania College of Technology at 7:00 p.m.