Score: Elmira College 3 – Houghton College 0 [25-15, 25-21, 25-18]
Score: Elmira College 0 – Stevens Institute of Technology 3 [16-25, 19-25, 16-25]
Records: Elmira College (16-12, 5-3), Houghton College (16-10, 5-3), Stevens Tech (16-11, 8-0)
Location: Speidel Gymnasium – Elmira, NY

Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College women's volleyball team clinched the fourth seed in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament with a straight-sets victory over Houghton College at Saturday's conference crossover.

Although the Soaring Eagles lost, 3-0, to the Stevens Institute of Technology in their second match of the day, the victory over Houghton combined with the Ducks' defeat of the Highlanders allowed EC to earn the final berth in the postseason tournament with a 5-3 league mark.

The Soaring Eagles cruised out to a 25-15 win in the first set en route to the straight-sets win over Houghton. In the opening stanza, the Purple and Gold hit a match-high .362, recording 18 kills with only one attacking error. Ashley Heiman '16, Kelsey Ray '17 and Kelsey Ross '16 each collected four kills in the first set to pace the high-octane offense.

The Highlanders made things a little more interesting in the second set. Houghton held two-point leads of 8-6 and 9-7 before Natalie Schieder '19 began a six-point rally with a kill. Taylor Kaznowski '19 then tossed up an ace, and served EC to a 13-10 lead, forcing Houghton to call a timeout. The Highlanders, buoyed by a team-best .321 hitting percentage, never bowed out of the set; they came within one on four separate occasions couldn't tied it. Leading 21-20, a kill from Heiman and the ensuing ace from Schieder gave Elmira enough separation to close the set.

Houghton and EC went neck-and-neck for the first portion of the final set. The set was tied on six occasions, last at 7-7. Schieder, however, led the charge by recording eight of her 15 kills in the third. She turned in five of the next eight points and seven of those eight kills after the 7-7 tie to give Elmira a lead it would never relinquish. Kaznowski secured the win with her match-best fourth service ace.

Following its neutral-site win over Houghton, the Ducks finished the regular-season with a perfect conference record by downing the Soaring Eagles in straight sets. Stevens out-hit EC, .267-to-.051, including a dominating .458 rate in the decisive third set.

In the second set, Elmira led by as much as five on two occasions. Three consecutive errors by the Ducks would give them a 16-12 advantage and it appeared the Soaring Eagles would be on their way to knotting the match at 1-1. However, Stevens stormed back to tie the set at 16-16, and proceeded to grab the lead. Up 20-19, the Ducks claimed the final five points to win the set and keep the momentum in their favor.

In Their Own Words...
Head Coach Rhonda Faunce on qualifying for E8 Tournament...
"It's huge. That was our one goal at the beginning of the season, to get back to the tournament. Right from Day 1, our focus was to be one of the best four teams in the Empire 8. We feel pretty accomplished."

Coach Faunce on the win over Houghton...
"We've been focusing in on that match. We knew if we could beat them, and that other things fell into place, we would get into the tournament. We were almost perfect in the first set. Our percentages were higher than they have been all season. That to me is an accumulation of all of our hard work."

Coach Faunce on the offense's performance against the Highlanders...
"We were very balance and as sharp as we could have been. The first touch on every rally was right where we needed the ball to be and our offense was clicking. Taylor was getting all of the balls and we were running a quick offense. They played well and we got the win."

Turning Point (Houghton)
After putting up a fight in the 25-21 loss in the second set, Houghton came out ready for a battle in the third set. The two teams went back and forth to a 7-7 tie, but Schieder took over from there. The first-year star began a Soaring Eagles rally with consecutive kills, and was responsible for five of the match's next eight points. Seven of her eight kills in the set came after the last tie to lead the home team to victory.

Turning Point (Stevens)
The Ducks captured the opening set by a score of 25-16. The Soaring Eagles, however, looked poised to take the second set. An assisted block by Ray and Schieder gave EC an 11-7 lead, and the ensuing attack error by Brianna Evans extended the cushion to five. EC also held a five-point lead at 13-8, but Stevens captured four straight points to trim the deficit to one, 13-12. The rally would eventually result in ties of 16- and 17-all, but from there, the visitors grabbed eight of the final 10 points to jump ahead, two-sets-to-none.

Inside the Box (Houghton)

• Elmira hit .309 as a team, including a .361 attacking percentage in the first set.
• Heiman led the Soaring Eagles with a .421 hitting percentage.
• Schieder hit at a .412 rate, followed by Ray at .333.
• Schieder led all players with 15 kills and 18 digs.
• EC served 10 aces while Houghton had only one in the match.
• Kaznowski finished with 44 assists, 11 digs and a match-best four aces.
• Ross finished one kill shy of the double-double, recording nine kills and 12 digs.

Inside the Box (Stevens)

• Stevens hit .267 as a team, compared to a .051 hitting percentage for Elmira.
• No Soaring Eagle finished with double-digit kills or digs.
• Heiman and Ross each had seven kills to lead the offense.
• Kaznowski recorded 23 assists.

News and Notes

• Elmira's .309 hitting percentage vs. Houghton was the second-highest rate of the season.
• The 51 kills and 49 assists against the Highlanders were the fourth-highest totals in each category in 2015.
• Schieder's double-double was her 11th of the year, Kaznowski's was her ninth.
• Kaznowski has now finished with double-digit assists in every match this season.
• Heiman hit above.400 for the fourth time this season vs. Houghton.
• The win over Houghton clinched the fourth seed in the E8 Tournament. Stevens (8-0) is the top seed, followed by Ithaca (7-1), Elmira (5-3) and Nazareth (5-3). Despite a 5-3 league record, Houghton was eliminated on a tiebreaker.

Up Next
The Soaring Eagles will head to Oneonta State for a two-day tournament, beginning on Friday, October 30th, at 5:00 p.m. against Bard College. On Saturday, October 31st, EC will take on Plattsburgh State at 10:00 a.m. and Oneonta State at 12:30 p.m.