Empire 8 Championships Central

Elmira, NY -- Qualifying for the Empire 8 Championships have become a common occurrence for the Elmira College women's volleyball program lately as the Soaring Eagles are preparing for their fourth consecutive postseason appearance and second straight semifinal matchup with rival, Nazareth College.

It took until the final Empire 8 Crossover, but a pair of 3-0 wins over Utica College and Ithaca College clinched EC's fourth straight 20-win season and the number three seed in the 2013 Empire 8 tournament. The Soaring Eagles will square-off with Nazareth College Saturday, November 9th at 2:30 p.m. in a rematch of the 2011 Empire 8 Championship game. The Golden Flyers have had the edge in previous postseason matchups as they have knocked the Purple and Gold out of the Empire 8 Championships each of the last two years.

Several of the players from those Elmira teams have graduated, but this edition of EC women's volleyball has a group of players that know what playing in the Empire 8 Championships is all about, having been a part of each of the teams that made the tournament in the past.

"Most of the women we have put on the floor this year did not see time in our previous Empire 8 Semifinal appearances, so all of the women entered this week of practice viewing Saturday as just another match," said Head Coach Rhonda Faunce. "We had a great week of practice and we're entering our match against Nazareth focused and playing at a high level right now."

The Soaring Eagles are led by recently crowned Empire 8 All-Conference First Team recipient Taryn Rumsey '14 who is first in the conference in kills, eighth in all of NCAA Division III in points per set and 10th in NCAA Division III in kills per set. She is joined by Catherine Miller '14 and Sami Hanes '16 who were both named Empire 8 Honorable Mention on Wednesday.

Elmira's semifinal matchup against Nazareth will be the second time in just two weeks that the two teams will have played each other. The Golden Flyers got the best of the Soaring Eagles in their previous matchup, winning 3-1 at Nazareth on October 25th. The teams split the first two sets but Nazareth won the third and fourth sets by a combined total of five points to seal the victory.

"We played Naz really close a couple weeks ago, those last two sets could have gone either way" stated Coach Faunce. "We uncharacteristically did not pass well that night so that's what we have been working on all week. If we pass well, we can get to the finals on Sunday and then who knows what can happen."

While Nazareth has had EC's number as of late, this group of Soaring Eagles is determined to break the trend and secure a spot in the championship game.