Score: Elmira College 3 – SUNY Cortland 1 [25-23, 27-25, 12-25, 25-22]
Score: Elmira College 3 – City College of New York 0 [25-11, 25-10, 25-20]
Record: Elmira (15-10); SUNY Cortland (14-14); CCNY (5-24)
Location: Speidel Gymnasium – Elmira, NY

Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College women's volleyball team recovered from a rough start on Day 1 of the EC Invitational and earned a pair of victories over SUNY Cortland the the City College of New York on Saturday.

The Soaring Eagles needed four sets to defeat the Red Dragons, 3-1 [25-23, 27-25, 12-25, 25-22]. In the second match of the day, the Soaring Eagles beat the Beavers, 3-0 [25-11, 25-10, 25-20].

Although the Purple and Gold committed 31 attacking errors, the second most this season – EC had 33 against the College of New Rochelle on September 19th – the offense produced 51 kills, third-most in a match in 2015. Of those kills, 20 came from Natalie Schieder '19, marking a new career-high for the first-year outside hitter. She also led the Soaring Eagles with 13 digs.

Fellow freshman Kasey Campbell '19 continued to make the most of her recent boost in playing time by turning in her third double-digit dig performance of the season (10) while tying her season-high with three aces against SUNY Cortland. Taylor Kaznowski '19 finished with 42 assists, her fifth match in the last six in which she has earned 40 or more.

The offense cut back on the errors as EC coasted to a straight-sets win over CCNY. The 11 attacking errors are the fewest since the team opened with 10 against Penn College on September 9th. As a result, EC hit at a .267 clip, the second-highest percentage this season.

Schieder also shined against CCNY, collecting team-highs for kills (nine), hitting percentage (.571), aces (four) and digs (10). Paola Ortiz '16 had five kills without an error for a .556 hitting percentage. Kaznowski extended her streak of matches with double-digit assists to 25 by earning 10 in the victory over the Beavers.

In Their Own Words...
Head Coach Rhonda Faunce on team's performance Saturday...
"I was very pleased with the team's performance today, and beating SUNY Cortland is big no matter what the year."

Coach Faunce on winning both matches after going 0-2 on Friday...
"I actually thought we played very well both days. We were just unlucky on Friday. We could have won both yesterday. We're playing well right now."

Coach Faunce on Schieder's career-high 20 kills...
"She is growing every day, She's seeing the court very well and has the ability to out the ball where she wants. It's going to be fun to watch her continue to get better and better."

Turning Point (SUNY Cortland)
The second set against the Red Dragons was a battle right down the end. With EC holding onto a slim 22-20 lead, Kelsey Ross '16 delivered a key ace to extend the set lead to three. Cortland would force a 25-25 tie by winning five of the next eight points, but Schieder killed the 26th for the Soaring Eagles. The Red Dragons then misplaced a set, as three different players watched it fall to the ground without making a play on it, ending the set at 27-25. The 2-0 match lead would prove to be crucial as Cortland mowed down Elmira in the third set, 25-12, before EC responded in the decisive fourth set.

Turning Point (CCNY)
Although the Purple and Gold made easy work of the Beavers en route to a 2-0 lead, CCNY did not back down in the third set. CCNY held a few slim leads throughout, but not enough to warrant a fourth set. EC pulled away late despite a 0.091 hitting percentage in the third.

Inside the Box (SUNY Cortland)

• Schieder led Elmira with 20 kills and a .214 hitting percentage.
• Ashley Heiman '16 had with 11 kills, followed by Ross with nine.
• Campbell finished with a match-high three service aces.
• Kaznowski earned 42 of Elmira's 48 assists.
• Three Soaring Eagles ended with 10-plus assists: Schieder (13), Campbell (10) and Kierstin Derr '16 (10).
• The Red Dragons outhit Elmira in terms of percentage. 0.154 compared to 0.132.

Inside the Box (CCNY)

• Schieder and Heiman once again led the offense in kills with nine and six, respectively.
• Each committed one error, resulting in hitting percentages of 0.571 for Schieder and 0.417 for Heiman.
• As a team, Elmira hit .0429 in the first set and 0.381 in the second.
• 14 different players finished with at least one dig for EC.
• The Soaring Eagles had 11 service aces, with two each from Liv Harnois '19 and Karina Hastings '19.

News and Notes

• The win over SUNY Cortland was the first since the 2010 season.
• The 51 kills vs. the Red Dragons were the third-most in a match in 2015.
• Schieder recorded a career-high 20 kills against SUNY Cortland.
• The double-double was the ninth for Schieder in her rookie year.
• Kaznowski has double-digit assists in all 25 matches this year.
• With 32 assisted blocks on the season, Heiman is now fourth-all time in program history with 157 assisted blocks.
• At 15-10, Elmira has more than doubled its win total from 2014.

Up Next
The Elmira College women's volleyball team will travel to the University of Rochester to face the Yellowjackets on Wednesday, October 21st, at 6:00 p.m.